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' :2s-try To-y/cnr J/- Chicuzup o 



A VOLUME OF MEMOIRS AND GENEALOGY 



REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



OF 



THE CITY OF SEATTLE AND COUNTY OF KING 
WASHINGTON 



INCLUDING BIOGRAPHIES OF MANY OF THOSE 
WHO HAVE PASSED AWAY 





^ 




ILLUSTRATED 




^ 




NEW YORK AND CHICAGO 


THE 


LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY 




19 3 



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(J^ 






PRKFACB. 




L;UT of the depths of his mature wisdom Carlyle wrote, 
"History is the essence of innumerable biographies." 

^ Believing this to be the fact, there is no necessity of 
advancing any further reason for the compilation of 

^ such a work as this, if reliable history is to be the 
<J)fi ultimate object. 
The section of Washington embraced by this volume has sustained 
within its confines men who have been prominent in the history of the 
state and even of the nation. The annals teem with the records of 
strong and noble manhood, and, as Sumner has said, "the true grand- 
eur of nations is in those qualities which constitute the greatness of the 
individual." The final causes which shape the fortunes of individuals and 
the destinies of states are often the same. They are usually remote and 
obscure, and their influence scarcely perceived until manifestly declared by 
results. That nation is the greatest which produces the greatest and most 
manly men and faithful women; and the intrinsic safety of a community 
depends not so much upon methods as upon that normal development from 
the deep resources of which proceeds all that is precious and perma- 
nent in life. But such a result may not consciously be contemplated by 
the actors in the great social drama. Pursuing each his personal good by 
e.xalted means, they work out a logical result. 

The elements of success in life consist in both innate capacity and deter- 
mination to excel. Where either is wanting, failure is almost certain in the 
outcome. The study of a successful life, therefore, serves both as a source 
of information and as a stimulus and encouragement to those who have the 
capacity. As an important lesson in this connection we may appropriately 



4 PREFACE. 

quote Longfellow, who said: "We judge ourselves by what we feel capa- 
ble of doing, while we judge others by what they have already done." A 
faithful personal history is an illustration of the truth of this observation. 

In this biographical history the editorial staff, as well as the publishers, 
have fully realized the magnitude of the task. In the collection of the ma- 
terial there has been a constant aim to discriminate carefully in regard to 
the selection of subjects. Those who have been prominent factors in the 
public, social and industrial development of the county have been given due 
recognition as far as it has been possible to secure the requisite data. 
Names worthy of perpetuation here, it is true, have in several instances been 
omitted, either on account of the apathy of those concerned or the inability 
of the compilers to secure the information necessary for a symmetrical 
sketch; but even more pains have been taken to secure accuracy than were 
promised in the prospectus. Works of this nature, therefore, are more reli- 
able and complete than are the " standard " histories of a country. 

THE PUBLISHERS. 



INDEX. 



Abrams, Robert, 248 
Adams, Frank E., 712 
Ainsworth, Elton E., 240 
Albertson, Robert B., 13 
Alien, John B., 207 
Allmond, Charles H., 367 
Alvord, Irving T., 484 
Alvord, Thomas M., 537 
Anderson, Alexander J., 561 
Anderson, Charles IVI., 557 
Anderson, John L., 449 
Andrews, Lyman B., 281 
Ankeny. RoUin V., 74 
Arney, William, 273 
Arthur, John. 304 
Austin. Charles G., 53 

Backus, Manon F., 19 
Bagley, Herman B., 56 
Baker, Charles, 80 
Ballard, William R., 234 
Battle, Alfred, 259 
Beach, Abijah I., 100 
Beattie, William, 664 
Bebb, Charles H., 672 
Beers, Alexander, 654 
Bell, Or\-ill J., 24 
Benjamin, Amos O., 336 
Bigelow, Harry A., 392 
Bigelow, Isaac N., 244 
Bissell, Edwin R.. 314 
Blaine, Elbert F., 300 
Blcktim, Harald, 36s 
Blethen, Alden J., 294 
Bode, Henry A., 498 
Bogart, Mrs. S. J., 416 
Boone. William E., 2.30 
Bothwell, James. 441 
Bowden, Edmund, 675 
Bowen, David W., 366 
Bowman, Alonzo C. 120 
Brace, John S., 310 
Brawley, Dewitt C, 512 
Brawley, William R., 742 



Breece. Enoch E., 473 
Bremer, William, 278 
Briggs, Benjamin F., 6go 
Brinker, William H., 471 
Brooke, George A., 706 
Brookes, Albert M., 214 
Brown, Amos, 476 
Brown, D. McL., 757 
Brown, Dana W., 104 
Bryan, Edgar, 189 
Buck, Franklin A,, 38 
Buhtz. Albert, 312 
Bunce, James A., 633 
Burnett, Hiram, 195 
Burwell. Austin P., 274 
Byers. Alphius, 611 

Caine, Elmer E., 87 
Calderhead. Samuel C, 700 
Calhoun. Isaac P.. 430 
Cann, Thomas H., 237 
Carkeek, Miorgan J., 644 
Carman, George C, 567 
Carroll, Francis M., 692 
Carroll, James, 638 
Carter, Robert E., 6S4 
Chesbro, Horace H., 143 
Chil'berg, Andrew, 82 
Chilberg, N«lson, 640 
Clark, Seth W.. 29 
Claussen, Hans J., 358 
Clise. James W., 171 
Closson, John H., 63 
Cochrane, William, 646 
Colkett, William J., 485 
Collier, William H., 620 
Collins, Charles R.. 320 
Collins, John, 605 
Colman, James M., 178 
Colvin, Oliver D., 751 
Compton, John R., 623 
Condon, John T., 616 
Cook. Ralph, 339 
Cooper, Isaac, 511 



INDEX. 



Corson, H. R., 424 
Cotterill, George F., 538 
Coulter, Clarence W., 736 
Crawford, Ronald C, 528 
Crawford, Samuel L., 460 
Cudihee. Edward, 112 
Curtiss, William M., 584 

Davis, J. W., 510 
Dawson, Lewis R., 614 
DeBruler, Ellis. 357 
DeCurtin. William. 583 
Dc Long, Willard W., 348 
Denny, Arthur A., 9 
Denny. D. T., 432 
Densmore, Milton, 482 
Dickson, E. C, 599 
Dilling, George W.. 436 
Dorman, John W., 378 
Dow, Matthew, 228 
Drew, Edward L.. ig 
Drew, Michael S., 17 
Duggan, Frank M., 481 
Duhamel, Edward J., 698 
Dyer, Luther A., 137 

Eckhart, W. F., 425 
Edsen, Eduard P., 41 
Emmons, Ralph W., 321 

Fafara, Michael, 429 
Fay, John P., 192 
Field, John, 271 
Fisher, Fred F., 580 
Fisher, Thomas M., 696 
Folsom, Frank H., 406 
Ford. Charles B., 324 
Fowler, Charles E., 182 
Frink, John M., 132 
Frye, George F., 26 
Fuhrman, Henry, 487 
Fulton, Walter S., 84 
Furth, Jacob, 184 

Gabriel, George W., 595 
Gasoh, Fred A., 285 
Geske, Charles, 395 
Gibiwn, W. E., 518 
Gillcspy, Sherwood, 158 
Gilson. George N., 588 
Goddard, Albert J., 509 
Godwin, J. W., 302 



Goodrich, Sylvester, 414 
Gormlcy, Matt H., 642 
Gowen. Herbert H., 374 
Graham, Richard J., 760 
Graves, Edward O., 603 
Gray, John G, 327 
Gray, Louis H., 91 
Guye, Francis M., 126 

Haller, Granville O.. 200 
Hallcr, Theodore N., 200 
Hallock, George E., 398 
Hanford, Frank, 454 
Harkins, Fred H., 648 
Hart, James. 505 
Hart. Volly P., 73 
Hartman, John P., 421 
Hartranft, William G., 71 
Hawkins, Erastus C, 108 
Hayden, James R., 76 
Hayes, Patrick C.. 547 
Hemer, J. Henry, 150 
Hemrich, Alvin M., 493 
Hemrich, Andrew, 419 
Hemrich, Louis, 686 
Herren, Archibald L.. 468 
Hicknigbottom, Robert. 719 
Hicks, Sylvester B.. 129 
Hight. Albert W., 390 
Hill, Frank A., 488 
Hill, George A., 14a 
Hillman. Clarence D., 4.19 
Hinckley, Timothy D.. 169 
Hoffman. Carl. 95 
Hofmeisler, Christian, 371 
Hoge, James D.. Jr.. 220 
Hopkins, Paul. 568 
Horton. Dexter, 172 
Horton. El wood. 729 
Horton, George M., 333 
Horton. Julius. 724 
Houghton, Edwin W., 60S 
Howe, John P., 292 
Howley, Timothy J.. 708 
Hughes, Elwood C, 523 
Hughes, Patrick D., 388 
Hull, Alonzo, 403 
Hurd, Frederick H., 155 
Husscy, Ernest B., 289 
Hutton, John. 600 
Hyman, Frank V., 726 



INDEX. 



Irving, John H., 535 

Jackson, Daniel B., 577 
Jacobs, Harry R., 486 
Jacobs, Orange, 210 
James, George, 669 
James, William, 305 
Janson, Ivar, 376 
Jeffs, Alexander S., 695 
Jeffs, Richard, 714 
Jeiiner, Charles K.. 187 
Jcnott, Joseph L., 739 
Johnson, C. E., 671 
Johnston, Richard C, 157 
Jones, Daniel, 263 
Jones, R. A., 369 
Jones, Richard S.. 368 
Jones, Thomas E., 495 
Josenhans, Timotheus, 93 
J u lien, Jacob. 596 

Kellogg, Jay A., 609 
Kelsall, Albert L.. 270 
Kemp, G. Ward, 658 
Kerry. Albert S., 52 
Kilbourne, Edward C.. 3^ 
Kindred, Christian A., 591 
Kirschner, Frederick, 549 
Kleinschmidt, Carl, 744 
Knapp, Lyman E., 246 
Koepfli, Charles A., 307 
Kunmier. George W., 252 

LaFarge, Oliver H. P., 125 
Lafromboise. Samuel, 501 
Lamping, George B.. 89 
Langston, John, 687 
Lee, James, 86 
Levy, Benjamin C. 663 
Lilly, Charles H., 49 
Llwyd, J. P. D., 531 
Lohse, Henry. 701 
Lord, William H., 661 
Lucas. John B., 379 
Lyon, John M., 217 

Maddocks, Moses R., 68 
Markey. Henry W.. 32 
Mason. James R., 762 
McCabe. Kearin H.. 709 
McClintock, James, 749 



McConnaughey, John W., 322 

McDermott, Mrs. Josephine P., 325 

McEachern, John A., 512 

McGilvra, John J., 720 

McGraw, John H., 225 

Mclntyre, J. D., 328 

McLachlan, William, 679 

McNatt, William F., 514 

McVay, David, 717 

Megrath, John, 637 

Mehlhorn, August, 198 

Metcalfe, James B., 572 

Miller, Christian, 351 

Mitchell, Frank W., 256 

Mitchell, Mrs. J. F. T., 631 

Moore, James A., 747 

Morgan, Frank V., 145 

Morrison, Ellis, 589 

Muchmore, Augustus, 458 

Mueller, John, 417 

Muldoon, Frank M., 15 

Nadeau, Ira A., 758 
Nagle, John H., 438 
NettletxDn, Clark M., 704 
Neville, L. Charles, 765 
Newell, James H., 626 
Noble, H. A., 462 
Nugent, James, 764 

O'Brien, Charles V., 676 
Osgood, Frank H., 408 
Osner, Charles, 451 

Palmer, Alfred L., 204 
Parker, Isaac, 164 
Payne, J. H., 743 
Pells, Frank E., 372 
Peter, John W., 502 
Peterson, John C, 550 
Peterson, Neil S., 36 
Piper, George XJ.. 571 
Poison, Perry, 316 
Powles, John B., 533 
Prefontaine. Francis X., 360 
Preston, Harold, 163 
Preston, Simon M.^ 118 
Prosser. William F., 552 

Raser, Harry A.. 411 
Ratcliffe, Edward M., 345 



INDEX. 



Ralhbim, Samuel F., 652 
Rawson. Zephaniah B., 465 
Rccd, Thomas C, 383 
Rcmsbcrg, Charles E., 680 
Renick, Frank H., 61 
Riplinger, John, 559 
Robinson, Alver, 318 
Rochislcr, Junius 617 
Ronald. James T., 121 
Root, Milo A., 363 
Rounds, Edgar J., 597 
Rowe, Lewis S., 152 
Rowell, Fred R., 46 
Rude, Hans P., 233 
Riinkel, Philip L., 443 
Russell, William M.. 341 
Rutler, Washington C, 334 

Sackett, George E., 656 
Sandahl. Christian N., 343 
Sander, Fred E., 78 
Sanders, Thomas, 288 
Sands, Alva C, 66 
Schertzer, John F., 621 
Schmid, Vitus, 308 
Schwagerl, Edward O., 353 
Scott, Eustace B.. 593 
Scott, William T.. 754 
Seagrave, Arthur A., 148 
Shorrock, Ebenezer, 546 
Shuey, Henry O., 146 
Sizer, Henry L., 40 
Smalley, Byron D., 381 
Smith, Charles J., 22 
Smith, Henry A., 264 
Smith, John D., 682 
Smith, Robert O., 678 
Smithers, Erasmus M., 96 
Soelberg, Axel H., 453 
Spear, Frank W., 222 
Stanley, William, 496 
Stcdman, Livingston B., 396 
Stewart, Alexander B., 579 
Stewart, George M., 297 
Stone, Corliss P., 167 
Strout, Edwin A., 734 
Struve, Frederick K., 400 

Taylor, John, 59 
Taylor, John S., 48 
Taylor, William H., 520 



Terry. M. Frank, 344 
Thoniscn, Moritz, 565 
Thomson, Reginald H., 767 
Tibbetts, George W., 666 
Titus, James H., 276 
Tonkin, James, 138 
Trenholm, James D., 582 
Turner, Frank, 630 
Twitchell, Frank A., 64 

Upper, Herbert S., 727 

Van De Vanter, Aaron T., 73° 
Verd, Charles, 516 
Vernon, William H., 592 
Vilas, Calvin E., 79 

Wallingford, John N., 267 
Ward, Dillis B., 445 
Ward, George W., 286 
Waring, Isaac. 347 
Wayland, Confucius L., 49a 
Webster, George E., 613 
Weeks, W. C, 74i 
Weir, James, 716 
Weitzel, Irvin K., 710 
Wenzler, John, 401 
Westerman, Robert G., 242 
Wheeler, Frank L., 756 
White, Harry. 763 
White, William H., 44 
Whitmore, Jesse K., 504 
Whitney, Eleazer P., 409 
Whittlesey, Charles F., 586 - 
Wilhelm. Fridolin, 88 
Willard, Rufus, 624 
Williams, James, 628 
Williams, Sidney J., 629 
Williamson, John R., 161 
Willis, Stephen P., 527 
Wilson, Michael, 525 
Winsor, Richard, 113 
Wold. Ingebright A., 521 
Wood, Robert, 479 
Wood, W. D., 261 
Wooding. John. 703 
Wyckoff. Ambrose B., 385 
Wyckoff. Ursula, 160 

Yandell. Henry, 770 
Young. M. H.. 426 



REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 



OF 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY 



ARTHUR A. DENNY. 



In the year 1898 Arthur Armstrong Denny departed this life, but while 
Seattle stands his memory will be revered and his name will find ai\ hon- 
ored place on the pages of its history, for he was its founder and for al- 
most a half century was connected with the majority of the interests which 
contributed to its welfare and progress. The dangers and privations of 
pioneer life were known to him through experience, but with brave heart 
and determined purpose he met these and persevered in his determination 
to establish a home in the western district. More endurmg than a monu- 
ment of stone is the work which he has accomplished in the founding of this 
valuable commonwealth in the Sunset state. 

Mr. Denny was born on the 20th of June, 1822, near Salem, Wash- 
ington county, Indiana, and was of Scotch-Irish descent, his ancestors hav- 
ing originally removed from Scotland to Ireland and thence to America at 
a verjr early epoch in the history of Pennsylvania. David and Margaret 
were the progenitors of the family in the United States. Their son, Robert 
Denny, the grandfather of our subject, was born in 1753 and served in 
Washington's command in the Revolutionary war. In 1787 he removed to 
Frederick county, Virginia, and about the year 1790 was married to Miss 
Rachel Thomas, who was a daughter of one of the Re\-oiutionary heroes. Not 
long after their nuptials were celebrated they removed to Mercer county, 
Kentucky, where John Denny, the father of our subject, was Ixtm on the- 
4th of May, 1793. He was reared amid the wild scenes of pioneer life, and 
when in his twentieth vear he served his country in the war of j8i2, being 



lo REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

a Kentucky volunteer in the regiment commanded by Richard M. John- 
son. He was an ensign in Captain McAfee's company and fouglit under 
General Harrison, being present at the defeat of General Proctor and at the 
death of the noted Indian Tecuniseh, who is said to have been killed by 
Colonel Johnson. In 1816 he removed from Kentucky to Indiana and later 
took up his abode in Illinois, becoming one of the distinguished men of that 
state and a representative in the legislature of 1840-41, being a colleague 
of Lincoln, Yates and Baker. He was originally a Whig, and his opposi- 
tion to slavery led to his identification with the Republican party, which 
was fomied to prevent the further extension of slavery into new territory. 
In 1851 he crossed the plains to Oregon and was the first candidate of his 
party for governor of the state in 1858. He was a most able speaker, strong, 
in argument and logical in his deductions and he kept thoroughly informed 
on all questions concerning the welfare of city, state and nation. He pos- 
sessed an even temperament and a genial disposition and was well fitted 
for leadership. On the 25th of August, 1S14, Mr. Denny was married to 
Miss Sarah Wilson, a native of Bladensburg, near Washington, born on 
the 3rd of February, 1797. She was of Scotch lineage, although her peo- 
ple were among the early settlers of America. She departed this life Maixli 
25, 1841, and the honorable and useful career of John Denny was terminated 
in death on the 28th of July, 1875, in the eighty-third year of his age. Fie 
located in Seattle in 1859 and there spent the remainder of his life. 

It was while the family were residing in W'ashington county, Indi- 
ana, that Arthur Armstrong Denny was born, and his education was ob- 
tained in a little log schoolhouse in Illinois. He also pursued an academic 
course and learned surveying, a knowledge of which was of much value 
to him in the days of his early residence on Puget Sound. He was married 
on the 23rd of November, 1843, to Miss IMary Ann Boren, and two chil- 
dren were bom to them in Illinois : Cathrine Louisa, who is now the wife 
of George Frederick Frv-e, of Seattle; and IMargaret Lenora, who is residing 
in a beautiful home with her mother in Seattle. It is to the latter that we 
are indebted for the material from which we have compiled the sketch of her 
honored father. 

In 1 85 1 Mr. Denny crossed the plains to Oregon, accompanied by his 
family. The party started from Illinois on the loth of April, making the 
hazardous journey across the plains with horse teams. They were attacked 
by Indians near the American Falls, but succeeded in escaping and keeping 
the red men at bay, although they were fired upon many times by the sav- 
ages. Perilous incidents were met and hardships endured, but at length 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. ii 

the journey was safely accomplished. For a time the party had no flour, 
and other trials were endured on the long journey, but at length they reached 
Portland, Oregon, on the 22nd of August, 1851. Malaria attacked the 
party, and learning that the health conditions around Puget Sound were 
very much better and desiring to locate near salt water, Mr. Denny decided 
to go to the coast, expecting to be more immune from malarial fever. Ac- 
cordingly he took passage on the vessel Exact, and on the 13th of Decem- 
ber, 185 1, was landed on the bank of Elliott bay. It was raining and the 
ladies of the party took shelter in the bushes. It was a drearj' prospect 
with the lowering clouds above and a wild new country al! around inhab- 
ited by savages and wild beasts. Dangers threatened, but these pioneer 
people had great courage and determination and resolved to make the best 
of the situation. The members of the party, in addition to the Denny fam- 
ily, were John N. Low and his family, C. D. Boren and family. \\'illiam N. 
Bell and family, and Charles C. Terry. There was also David T. Denny, 
a brother of Arthur Denny, and Lee Terr)', making in all twelve adults 
and twelve children. The landing was made at Alki Point, where they 
built log houses. At least fifteen hundred Indians spent the winter in that 
vicinity, some of them occupying part of the ground which the pioneers 
had cleared, but the latter thought it unwise to antagonize the red men by 
refusing the privilege of camping in this district. In the spring Mr. Denny 
and some of his friends began to seek more favorable locations for claims, 
and he accordingly located three hundred and twenty acres of land, upon which 
a portion of the city of Seattle now stands. The party arrived just too late 
to receive the benefit of the six hundred-and-forty-acre donation act, the 
amount of a claim having been reduced one half only a short time before. 
On this property his first log house was built on the bluff at the mouth of 
the gulch, which extends to the bay in front of where Bell Hotel was after- 
ward built. This proved an inconvenient place for the little home and 
shortly afterward I\Ir. Denny built a residence where Frye's Opera House is 
now. located. 

Pioneer conditions existed ; the mail was brought to the little colony 
by express at a cost of twenty-five cents per letter, and the last mail that 
was delivered in that way contained twenty-two letters and fourteen news- 
papers. A postoffice was then established. i\Ir. Denny was appointed post- 
jnaster and cared for the mail in his little log cabin for several years. His 
next residence was a frame house of six rooms and for years this was 
headquarters for all new comers. As the city grew he subdivided his land, 
made several additions to the town and as the property increased in value 



12 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

his wealth hkewise proportionately grew, and he became one of the most 
substantial residents of Seattle. He made judicious investments in prop- 
erty, and his careful management and keen business sagacity resulted in 
ihe acquirement of a handsome estate. It was in Oregon that Mr. Denny's 
eldest son Roland was born on the 2nd of Septeinber, 1851, only a short 
time after the arrival of the family, and he was but an infant when they 
came to Seattle. In the city schools he was educated and has been identi- 
fied with the growth and development of the city, and now has charge of 
his father's large estate. The second son, Orion, was born in Seattle and is 
now extensively engaged in the manufacture of vitrified brick and tile. 
Another son, Arthur Wilson, was born in Seattle and is a book and sta- 
tionery merchant, while the youngest son, Charles, is a member of the 
Denny Blaine Land Company, doing a large real-estate business. The fam- 
ily has ever been one of the most honored, respected and prominent in 
Seattle, the sons sharing in the work of the father and continuing it since 
his death. 

IMr. Denny was a life-long Republican and from the time of his ar- 
rival in Washington took an acti\e part in political affairs. He was elected 
a member of the first legislature of the territory and was also elected a 
delegate to the United States congress, where he did much for the terri- 
tory in promoting its interests and welfare. During the early years of his 
residence he was identified with business affairs of the city as u merchant 
and later became a member of the firm of Dexter, Horton & Company, 
bankers, owners of the first bank of Seattle. This institution did a large 
and successful business, but it did not claim all of iMr. Denny's attention, 
for he was known as an active factor in nearly every enterprise tiiat contrib- 
uted to the grow'th, progress and prosperity of the city. He gave all of his 
time, means and influence for its promotion. He assisted in organizing 
the First iNIethodist church, and for years was an active member of that 
denomination, but in his later days was more closely identified with the 
Congregational church. He always took a deep interest in all leligious 
work and was ever ready to assist in Christian and educational enterprises. 
At this point it would be almost tautological to enter into any series of 
statements as showing Mr. Denny to have been a man of broad intelli- 
gaice and genuine public spirit, for these have been shadowed forth between 
the lines of this review. Strong in his individuality, he never lacked the 
courage of his convictions, but there existed as dominating elements in this 
individuality a lively human sympathy and an abiding charity, which, as 
taken in connection with the sterling integrity and honor of his c'naracter, 
have naturally gained to him the respect and confidence of men. 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 13 

ROBERT BROOKE ALBERTSOX. 

Earnest effort, close application and the exercise of his native talent.s 
have won Robert B. .Mbertson prestige as a Seattle lawyer, a fact which is 
highly complimentary, for no bar has numbered more eminent and prominent 
men. He is to-day a member of the law firm of Lewis Hardin and Albertson, 
his partners being Colonel James Hamilton Lewis and Thomas B. Hardin. 

Mr. Albertson was born in Hertford, North Carolina, December 21, 
1859. His ancestors emigrated from Amsterdam more than two hundred 
years ago and for several generations the family has been represented in the 
old North state. Elias Albertson, the great-grandfather of our subject, was 
born in that state on the 24th of September, 1763, and became an inlluential 
i<nd leading citizen, ^^•ho served as inspector of revenues under the first admin- 
istration, being appointed by President George Washington in 1792. His 
son, Anthony Albertson, the grandfather of our subject, was also a native of 
North Carolina and became a prominent citizen and planter, who died about 
the beginning of the Civil war, in the seventieth year of his age. Jonathan 
White Albertson, the father of the suljject of this sketch, was born in Per- 
quimans county. North Carolina, September 5, 1826. On the eighth day of 
January, 1854, he married Miss Catherine Fauntleroy Pescud, of Petersburg, 
\"irginia. Her maternal grandfather was Peter Francisco, who won fame 
in the Revolutionary war. He possessed phenomenal strength and was an 
expert swordsman. Enlisting in the Revolutionary war, he distinguished 
himself for valor and ability as a fighter, and his efforts proved greatly detri- 
mental to the enemy. It is known that in a certain charge he engaged six 
British soldiers at one time and succeeded in slaying all of them. He said 
he could rest better after he had killed a number of the enemies of his country. 
He was such a A^aliant and brave soldier and accomplished so much for the 
colonial cause that the legislature of his state rendered thanks to him by reso- 
lution. In the early history of the Albertson family all were identified with 
the Society of Friends. In ante-bellum days Jonathan W. Albertson opposed 
the secession movemait urged by the south, but after tlie war was inaugurated 
he endorsed the course of his native section, although he did not enter the 
army. In religious faith he became an Episcopalian, although reared as a 
member of the Society of Friends. A lawj-er of marked ability, he was con- 
nected with nnich of the imjiortant litigation tried in the courts of this dis- 
trict and won eminence as a member of the bar. He served as prosecuting 
attorney of his district, was judge of the Superior court and was L'nited 
States attorney under President Hayes. He also was a member of the legis- 



14 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZEXS OF 

lature, and of the constilutional convention of North CaroHna, and he left 
the impress of his individuahty upon the organic law of his state. Unto the 
parents of our subject were born six children, of whom five are yet living. 
One of the sons is Jonathan W., telegraph editor of the Post Intelligencer 
of Seattle, and Thomas E. is a soldier in the Philippines. The father of this 
family died in 1898 at the age of seventy-two years, but the mother is yet 
living in North Carolina at the age of seventy-five years. 

Robert Brooke Albertson was educated in the University of North Caro- 
lina, being graduated in 1881 with the degree of Ph. B. He studied law 
in the same university and was admitted to the bar by the supreme court of 
North Carolina on the 6th of February, 1883. Since that time he has been 
admitted to practice in all of the courts of the United States. In the fall 
succeeding his admission he came to Seattle. He had no means, and in order 
to provide for his support he accepted employment at piling lumljer for the 
Seattle and Commercial r\Iill Company, later spending six months as city 
editor of the Seattle ^Morning Chronicle, and for two years he was a law 
clerk, first employed in that capacity in the office of Burke & Raisin, and 
afterward in the office of Struve, Haines & McMicken. In 1885 he entered 
into a law partnership with George Hyde Preston and later became a mem- 
ber of the firm of Lewis, Hardin & Albertson. Mr. Albertson is widely 
known as a talented and reliable attorney. His practice is extensive and of an 
important character. He is remarkable among lawyers for the wide re- 
search and provident care with which he prepares his cases. 

On the 24th of August, 1892, Mr. Albertson was married to Miss Nancy 
De Wolfe, a native of Charlotte, North Carolina, and a daughter of Captain 
F. S. De Wolfe, who was formerly a mayor of that city and is now a resident 
of Seattle. Our subject and his wife hold membership in the Episcopal 
church and are very highly esteemed by a host of warm friends. Mr. Albert- 
son is acknowledged to be one of the most active, influential and prominent 
members of the Republican party in the city. He has served with mucli 
ability as chairman of the King county Republican central committee, filling 
the offic'e until 1889. In that year he was elected corporation counsel of 
Seattle, was elected a representative from the Forty-second district of the 
state legislature in 1895 and re-elected in 1900. He was nominated by his 
party while absent at Nome, Alaska, the nomination being made without his 
solicitation or knowledge. He was unanimously endorsed by the King 
county delegation for speaker of the house, to which position he was elected, 
and in that place of high honor and responsibility he displayed such executive 
force and thorough knowledge of parjiament.nry usage as to win the com- 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 15 

mendation not only of his own party, bat of tlie opposition as well. He was 
also speaker at the special session held in June, 1901. Mr. Albertson is a 
member of the Sons of the American Revolution, having first been identified 
with the Maryland chapter and now with the Washington chapter, of which 
he is the historian. He belonged to the old hook and ladder company of the 
city up to- the time when a paid fire company was installed. For five years he 
was a member of the Washington state m.iliiia and served with ability during 
the Chinese riots in 1887. He is the present chancellor commander of the 
Knights of Pythias fraternity, and is one of the honored citizens of the city 
'A'here he has won prominence at the bar and as a statesman. 

FRANK M. MULDOON. 

Frank ]M. ^Muldoon, an ex-member of the city council of Seattle, is a 
progressive and well known business man of the city, where he has made 
his home for the past fourteen years, and during all this time he has been 
prominently identified with the real-estate interests, both on his own account 
and for eastern capitalists. He was born in Montpelier, Vermont, on the 
6th of December, 1848. His great-grandfather in the paternal line came to 
this country from Ireland, and was the progenitor of the family on American 
soil. He took up his abode on a farm in Keysville, New York, there spending 
the remainder of his life. His son, John Muldoon, was born in that city, and 
be, too, became an industrious and respected agriculturist, spending his en- 
tire life in the town in which he was born, his death occurring at the age of 
eighty-four years. His son, Thomas B. Muldoon, became the father of our 
subject, and he also claimed Keysville as the place of his nativity, being there 
bom in 1820. He subsequently removed to Montpelier, Vermont, where he 
learned the carriage manufacturer's trade, and was there married to Miss 
Maria Daggett, a native of that city. She was of Scotch and English 
ancestry, and for many generations her ancestors had resided in the Green 
Mountain state. In 1854 I\Jr. and Airs. Muldoon took up their abode in 
Madison, Wisconsin, where he engaged in the manufacture of carriages and 
farm implements, in partnership with Daniel M. Thurston, the father of 
United States Senator Thurston, where he remained ten years, afterward 
removing to Hammond, that state, there becoming one of the most extensive 
farmers and land owners in that section of the state. He gave close attention 
to his business interests, and the measure of his influence upon the best devel- 
opment of his locality was widely felt. For many years he held the office 
of alderman of his city. He was called to his final rest in 1870, at the age 



i6 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

of fifty years, passing away in the faith of the Episcopal churcli, of wliich he 
was long a worthy and consistent memher. His wife died in Minneapolis, 
Minnesota, in 1S85, when she had reached the age of sixt3'-one years. Unto 
this worthy conple were horn six children, ot whom three still snrvi\e. 

Frank M. Muldoon, the only representative of the above described family 
on the Pacific coast, received his education n^ the State University .at JNIadi- 
son, Wisconsin, and after leaving that institution assisted his father in his 
extensive farming operations until 1870. In that year, in Hammond, ^Y'n- 
consin, he embarked in the hardware ami machinery business, later continu- 
ing the same occupation in ^linneapolis, Minnesota, and his business rela- 
tions were carried on in partnership with liis brother, James D. Muldoon. 
In the latter city our subject was also engaged in the real-estate business, and 
he was in St. Paul, Minnesota, before the advent of the railroads into that 
section. Owing to the ill health of his family he thought it advisable to seek 
a change of climate, and accordingly, in 1888, he came to Seattle. Washing- 
ton, where he has ever since been actively and deeply interested in the growth 
rmd development of the city. Throughout his residence here he has been 
numbered among the leading real-estate dealers of the northwest, and in this 
line of business his service; have been of incalculable value to Seattle and the 
surrounding country. After a residence here of only one year he was hon- 
ored by his fellow citizens by being made a member of the city council, and 
he has since been the incumbent ol that important position, which pro^-es that 
his services therein have been trustworthy and capable. He was prominent 
in advocating the cutting down of the great Denny Hill and using the con- 
tents to fill in the water front and also in opening the streets through it to 
the north. As chairman of the street committee this proposition was his, 
and he is entitled to the full credit of this great improvement. At his own 
expense he has recently made a tnp to the eastern cities, gathering valuable 
data in regard to the mediods of street improvement, bridge building, sewer 
construction, the care of garbage and all such subjects, and this service has 
been of great value in improving the streets of Seattle. To him is accorded 
the honor of having platted and placed on sale the ^larket street addition to 
the city, which has been largely sold and improved, and he is now entrusted 
with the business of various eastern capitalists, making investments for them 
and caring for their real estate. 

In 1874 was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Muldoon and Miss Sarah 
L. Ducolon, a native of the Empire state. Two children have come to 
brighten and bless their home — Jay I', and Allie B. The family reside in a 
beautiful home in Seattle and are members of the Baptist church. Mr. Mul- 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 17 

doon is a member of both branches of the Independent Order of Odd Fel- 
lows, and has retained his membership in his lodge in the east, with which 
he has been identified for ihirty years. He is also a member of the order of 
Bai Hur, and in politics is a life-long Republican. He has earned for him- 
self an enviable reputation as a careful man of business, always known for 
his prompt and honorable methods of dealing, which have won him the 
deserved and unbounded confidence of his fellow men. 

MICHAEL S. DREW. 

Michael S. Drew, one of the highly esteemed pioneer citizens of 
Seattle, is numbered among the native sons of the Pine Tree state, his birth 
having occurred in Machias, Maine, on the 5th of January, 1827. His par- 
ents were Alexander and Zylpha (SmalD Drew, both of whom were natives 
of Maine and Congregationalists in religious faith. The father was a car- 
penter and farmer, whose life was characterized by industry and uprightness. 
He died in 1833 at the age of forty-five years, and of the ten children born 
of his marriage only three are now living, although all attained to a good old 
jige. As the family was large and the financial resources were limited, ^Michael 
S. Drew had little opportunity to secure an education, but as the years passed 
he gained much general information, constantly adding to his knowledge in 
the school of experience. He eirned his own living from a very early age. 
He remained in Machias, ]\laine, until he attained the age of fifteen, and 
at that time he had depended upon his own resources for nine years. He first 
worked in a lathe mill, receiving twenty-five cents per day, and continued 
in the lumber business until as he grew in size and capability he acquired 
a complete knowledge of the lumber business in all its departments. In 
1848, having attained his majority, he came to the west upon the tide of 
emigration, which was still flowing toward the setting sun. On reaching 
Minnesota he was pleased with that state and took up his abode at St. An- 
thony Falls, then a new town, lia\ing just been established upon the western 
frontier. He had made the journey part of the way overland and part of 
the wa}- by means of the rivers and lakes, as no railroads extended in the west- 
ern district at that time. While enroute he camped at Chicago, which was 
then but a small town, a tract of swamp land constituting the site of what is 
now he second city of the Union. 

In Minnesota Mr. Drew engaged in lumbering, but the discover}- of gold 
m California attracted him to the far west, and he resolved to seek the Eldo- 
rado of the west, hoping that he might readily gain a fortune upon the Pacific 



1 8 REPRESEXTATR'E CITIZENS OF 

coast. In order to reach that country he made his way to New York city 
where he took passage in a ship to San Francisco, going by way of Panama. 
He reached his destination in safety on the 26th of October, 1852, and had 
about five cents left when he landed. For fourteen months he was engaged 
in placer-mining in Nevada, meeti;ig with success and making considerable 
money. He also worked in a sav/mill in Grass Valley, being paid four 
hundred dollars per month in compensation tor his services. He continued 
in that position for two years and then spent a year in the Red Woods, near 
Redwood city, California. At one time he had eighteen hundred dollars in 
California slugs, worth fifty dollars each. Later he went to the middle and 
more southerly mining districts of California and there spent what he had 
previously sa\ed. In 1855 he returned to San Francisco and secured a 
passage on the bark Live Yankees, in which he sailed to Port Gamble, arriv- 
ing on the 22nd of September, 1855. There he obtained work with the 
Puget Mill Company as saw-filer, and after two years was promoted to the 
position of assistant foreman under Cyrus Walker, now a wealthy and re- 
spected pioneer of the state. 

Mr. Drew continued in that capacity until 1871, at wh'ch time he was 
appointed collector of customs of the Puget Sound district by President 
Grant, filling the position capably for two years, during which time he resided 
at Port Townsend. He then resigned and returned to Port Gamble, again 
resuming his position with the mill company, with which he continued until 
J 890, when he was elected a member of the first state legislature of Wash- 
ington. He removed to Seattle, taking up his abode in the comfortable 
and commodious residence in which he lias ever since lived. When in the 
legislature he was an active and valued member, doing all in his power to 
promote the best interests of the state. At the close of his term of sen-ice 
he returned to Seattle, where he has largely lived a retired life, although he 
has dealt to some extent on his own account in city property and has engaged 
in loaning money. 

Mr. Drew was married on the 13th of October, 1864, to Miss Susan 
Isabella Biles, a native of Yazoo county, Mississippi, and a daughter of James 
Biles, a planter belonging to an old Virginian family. He brought a large 
emigrant train to Washington in 1853, Olympia being their destination. 
He had married Miss Nancy Carter, a southern lady, and was accompanied 
by his wife and their seven children on the journey to the northwest in 1853. 
Mr. Biles was a strong temperance man and a devoted member of the !Meth- 
odist Church. He was also a prominent Mason and took a very active part 
in organizing the first Masonic lodge in the territory of Washington, travel- 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 19 

ing over this portion of the country and installing lodges at various places. 
He died at the age of seventy-six years and was buried at Olympia, his 
good wife surviving for some time and passing away in the eighty-fourth 
year of her age. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Drew have been born seven children, 
three of whom are living. Fred, a practicing dentist, died at the age of 
twaity-five years, leaving a wife and one child. He was prominent in his 
profession, was highly esteemed and his loss was very deeply felt by his 
family and many friends. One daughter, Abbie, is a musician of note, 
having studied in Europe and Boston. Edward L. is a partner in the man-. 
agement of the Third Avenue Theater of Seattle. Cyrus Walker is in the 
Seattle Hardware store, one of the large wholesale and retail establishments 
of this city. 

Mr. Drew received the sublime degree of a Master Mason in 1858 at 
Port Gamble, and is past master of his lodge, still retaining active member- 
ship there. He has remained upon the Pacific coast for more than half a 
century, being a pioneer of California and Washington. He has contributed 
in a large measure to the development of the mining and industrial interests 
of the northwest and through legitimate channels of business has attained 
very creditable success. 

Edward L. Drew, to whom we are largely indebted for the facts con- 
tained in this biographical sketch, was born at Port Townsend September 
2, 1871. He was educated in the public schools and in the State University 
of Washington, and was engaged in the lumber business until 1893, at which 
time he became a partner in the management of the Third Avenue Theater, 
being associated with Mr. Russell in this enterprise in which they are meet- 
ing with marked succ^s. He is a member of the Woodman of the World and 
of the Knights of Pythias fraternity, and is a young man of excellent busi- 
ness and executive ability, popular and esteemed in Seattle. 

MANSON F. BACKUS. 

Manson F. Backus, president of the Washington National Bank, is one 
of the most enterprising and successful business men of Seattle. He was 
bom in South Livonia, Livingston county, New York, on the nth of May, 
1853, and is of old English ancestn,', the family having been established in 
Saybrook, Connecticut, in 1635. They became prominent in the early his- 
tory of New England, and from that section of the country representatives 
of the name removed to New York. John Backus, the grandfather of our 
subject, was born in Washington county, in th.at state, whence he early 



20 REPRESENTATIVE CTITZENS OF 

remo\-ed to Livingston county. Ileie he followC'l the life of a frugal, indus- 
trious farmer, and attained the advanced' age of eighty-eight years. His 
son, Clinton T. Backus, the father of our subject, was born in South Livonia, 
Livingston county, and became a stock raiser, raising and dealing in fine 
horses and cattle. In 1859 he removed to L'nion Springs, New York, where 
he was engaged in the milhng business until 1863, at which time he pur- 
chased a large interest in a gypsum mine. He was engaged in that line of 
work throughout the remainder of his life, and under his management the 
various gypsum mines and mills were consolidated under the name of the 
Cayuga Plaster Company. In 1865 he was associated with Gen. ^Villiam 
H. Seward, Jr., Gen. Henry W. Slocum, E. P. Ross, J. N. Na])p and others, 
m the organization of the Merchants Union Express Company, whicli was 
subsequently consolidated with the Aivierican Express Company, and of the 
latter Mr. Backus was a director for many years. In 1866 he became a 
stockholder in. the First National Bank of Union Springs, New York, and 
was president of the insliintion until 1890, at which time he liquidated the 
bank and continued the ijusiness as a private banking house. Although 
extensively connected with manufacturing and financial affairs, he always 
maintained his interest in farming and stock raising, and continued business 
along that line until the time of his death. At his death he was the largest 
land owner in his town, and his chief pleasure consisted of \isiting his vari- 
ous farms and inspecting the fine .stock raised thereon. He was a gentleman 
of superior executive ability and keen discrimination, and his business judg- 
ment was rarely at fault. He carried forward to successful completion 
whatever he undertook, and his wise counsel proved a potent element in the 
conduct of many profitable concerns. He departed tliis life September 5, 
1897, at the age of seventy years, and over the record of his career there falls 
no shadow of wrong or suspicion of evil. He left to his family not only a 
handsome competence, but an untarnished name. 

In 1 85 1 M. Backus was united in marriage to Miss Harriet N. Groes- 
beck, a native of Rensselaer county. New York, born in 1828. They had 
two children, a daughter and a sou; the mother died in 1854. 

Manson Franklin Backus pursued his education in Oakwood Seminary, 
at Union Springs, and graduated from that institution with the class of 1871. 
He then attended the Central New York Conference Seminary at Cazenovia, 
New York, and is one of its graduates of the class of 1872. Upon the com- 
pletion of his literary course he entered the employ of the First National 
Bank of Union Springs. In 1874 he was appointed teller and the following 
year became cashier, a position which he filled acceptably and continuously 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 21 

until 1 888, when he determined to improve the excellent opportunities offered 
by the northwest and ally himself with the business interests of Washington. 
Accordingly, he came to Seattle in 1889, and in connection with others or- 
ganized the Washington National Bank, of which he served as the cashier 
and chief executive officer until 1897, when he was chosen vice-president. In 
1900 he was elected president. The bank has always been conducted along 
most conservative lines, and its growth and success are quite remarkable, its 
deposits now aggregating three and one-half million dollars, while its sur- 
plus and undivided profits are equal to tliree times its capital. This result 
has largely been attained through the personality and energy of Mr. Backus. 
Other business interests have also profited by his managerial ability; while 
in Union Springs he had ihe management of the plaster company from 1879 
to 1888, during which time its business increased tenfold. Mr. Backus 
studied law as an accomplishment, and was admitted to the bar at Buffalo, 
New York. He was appointed postmaster at Union Springs by President 
Garfield in 1881. In 1893 he was appointed by the United States Court 
receiver of the Seattle Consolidated Street Railway Company, and also of the 
Rainier Power and Railway Company, two of the largest corporations in the 
state of Washington. Pic is nou- (1902; president of the Seattle Clearing 
House Association, and was a member of the clearing house committee 
which was instrumental in carrying the Seattle banks through the panic of 
1893 without a failure among its members. In November, 1896, in con- 
nection with Mr. E. O. Graves, he organized the banking house of Graves 
& Backus, the firm afterward becoming Graves, Backus & Purdy. This 
institution is located at Whatcom, W^ashington, and has been remarkably 
successful. Mr. Backus is also a director of the Columbia & Puget Sound 
Railway Company. It will thus be seen that his business connections are 
of a comprehensive and important cliaracter. 

In April, 1873, ^1^- Backus was united in marriage to Miss Emma C. 
Yawger, who died in 18S4, leaving two children, Irene, now the wife of Dr. 
R. M. Harlan, of New York; and Leroy M., a graduate of Harvard Uni- 
versity, class of 1902. In 1886 Mr. Backus was again married, his second 
union being with Miss Lue Adams, of King Ferry, New York, who died 
in February, 1901. Socially he is connected with the Rainier and several 
other clubs. In his politics he is a Republican, but aside from exercising 
his right of franchise in support of the men and measures in which he be- 
lieves, he has taken no active part in political affairs since coming to Wash- 
ington. He is a liberal contributor to local charities and public enterprises, 
and has done his full share toward promoting the prosperity of his adopted 



22 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

city. Honored and respected, few men in Seattle occupy a more enviable 
position tlian Manson F. Backus in mercantile and financial circles, not alone 
on account of the success he has achieved, but also on account of the hon- 
orable, straightforward business policy he has followed. He possesses un- 
tiring energ)', is quick of perception, forms his plans readily, is determined 
in their execution, and his close application to business and his excellent man- 
agement have brought him the high degree of prosperity which he at present 
enjoys. He has demonstrated that success is not the result of genius, but 
the outcome of judg'ment, vigilance and hard \\ork. 

CHARLES J. SMITH. 

Charles Jackson Smith belongs to the little group of distinctively rep- 
resentative business men who have been the pioneers in inaugurating and 
building up the chief industries of this section of the country. He early had 
the sagacity and prescience to discern the affluence which the future had in 
store for this great and growing country, and, acting in accordance with 
the dictates of his faith and judgment, he has garnered, in the fullness of 
time, the generous harvest which is the just recompence of industrj', integ- 
rity and enterprise. He is now connected with many extensive and import- 
ant business interests of a private nature and has earned the proud Ameri- 
can title of a self-made man, for all that he has is the reward of his own 
enterprise and industry. 

Charles Jackson Smith was born in Nicholasville, Jessamine county, 
Kentucky, on the 13th of March, 1854, and is of Scotch-Irish lineage. His 
paternal grandfather emigrated to New York in 1795, while the maternal 
grandfather became a resident of North Carolina, whence he removed to 
Kentucky, settling in the Blue Grass state during its pioneer days. Charles 
F. Smith, the father of our suliject, was born in Easton, Delaware county. 
New York, in the year 1813, and was united in marriage to Miss Q. A. 
Jackson, whose birth occurred in Kentucky in 1826. The wedding took place 
in the Empire state, whither the bride had removed with her parents. Mr. 
and Mrs. Smith remained in New York until 1857, when they took up their 
abode in Kansas City, Missouri, where they passed the residue of their days, 
the father dying in 1877 at the age of sixty- four years. He was a mer- 
chant and for a time served as internal revenue collector. Four of the five 
children are yet living and ]\Irs. Smith still survives in her seventy-fifth 
year, her home being at Portland, Oregan. Like her husband, she holds 
membership in the Presbyterian church and since coming to the northwest 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 23 

has made many warm friends, who esteem her highly for her lovable traits 
of character. Two of her sons, L. E. and Charles J., are residents of Seattle. 

The latter pursued his education in private schools of Kansas City and 
is a graduate of Blackburn University of Carlinville, Illinois. Soon after 
the completion of his literary course, he became connected with railroad serv- 
ice as a clerk in the motive power department of the Kansas City, Missouri 
River, Fort Scott & Gulf Railroad Company. He was promoted to the audit- 
ing department and did the auditing of the Leavenworth, Lawrence & Gal- 
veston Railroad. In 1878 he became auditor for both roads and soon after- 
ward the auditing departments of those roads and of the Kansas City, St. 
Joseph & Council Bluffs and the Atchison, Nebraska Railroads were remo^-ed 
to Kansas City and consolidated in one office — Mr. Smith being made assist- 
ant auditor of the consolidated department. 

It was in the year 1880 that our subject became a resident of the north- 
west, at which time he removed to Portland, Oregon, and accepted the 
position of assistant comptroller of the Oregon Railroad & Navigation Com- 
pany. The following year he was made comptroller of the company and 
of the Oregon Improvement Company, and in 1886 he went to New York 
city as secretary and treasurer of the Oregon Railway & Navigation Com- 
pany, the Oregon Improvement Company, and the Oregon & Transconti- 
nental Company. Soon after this the Oregon Railroad was leased to the 
Union Pacific and the Oregon & Transcontinental Company had a change of 
management. Mr. Smith then left New York for Omaha to become gen- 
eral l^nd commissioner for the Union Pacific Company, continuing in that 
capacity until 1889, at which time he returned to Portland, Oregon, as gen- 
eral manager of the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company. There he 
remained until 1890, when he came to Seattle and was made vice-president 
and general manager of the Oregon Improvement Company, which posi- 
tion he filled continuously until 1895, when he was appointed receiver of 
the company, acting in that capacity until 1897. He was then appointed 
general manager of the Pacific Coast Company, the successor of the Oregon 
Improvemait Company, but in January, 1899, he left the company and has 
since given his attention to the supervision of his private interests: He is con- 
nected with a wholesale mercantile house in Portland, is also interested in 
milling and coal mining and has various other enterprises of importance. 
He is a gentleman' of wide experience and marked executive ability and his 
business career proves conclusively what a power in the industrial world are 
enterprise, resolution and straight-forward business methods. 

In 1880 was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Smith and Miss Elizabeth 



24 REPRESEXTATRE CITIZENS OF 

AIcMullen, a native of Bk)ominglon, Illinois, and unto them ha\c been born 
five children, Myra, Elizabeth, Katharine, Charles Howard and I'rescott 
Kirkland. The family are Presbyterians in religious faith and are held in 
high esteem, while their home is the center of a cultured society circle. As 
a Republican Air. Smith takes a deep and abiding interest in the growth and 
success of his party and does everything in his power to secure reform in 
municipal government. He is a member of the Chamber of Commerce and 
is a most public-spirited citizen, co-operating in all measures for the general 
good. 

ORVILL J. BELL. 

One of the prominent and respected citizens of Seattle is Orvill J Bell, 
a man whose history furnishes a splendid example of what may be accom- 
plished through determined purpose, laudable ambition and well directed 
efforts. Starting at the very bottom round of the ladder, he has steadily 
worked his way upword, gaining success and winning the public confidence. 

j\Ir. Bell was born in Calhoun county, Michigan, on the 12th of Febru- 
ary, 1847, ^"<i is of Scotch and Irish ancestry. His grandfather, Andrew 
Bell, was bom in Scotland and came with his father to America, the}^ be- 
coming early pioneers of Calhotm county, Michigan, where they secured 
twelve hundred acres of land. They became well and favorablj' known 
among the early settlers of that part of the slate, and were prominent mem- 
bers of the Baptist church. The grandfather filled many positions of honor 
and trust in his locality. The father of our subject, Allison A. Bell, was 
born in Erie county. New York, in 1820, and as a life occupation he fol- 
lowed farming and merchandising. For some years he made his home at 
Olivet, Michigan, where he was connected with the college of that place, and 
w^as an active Republican in the early history of that party. He married 
Miss Mary Fish, also of Erie county. New York, and their union was blessed 
with two sons, — Merton A., now deceased; and Orvdl J. The father was 
called from this life in the forty-fifth year of his age, and his loving wife 
passed away at the early age of twenty-seven years. 

Orvill J. Bell received rn excellent education in Olivet College, and 
when the time came for him to assume the duties of life on his own re- 
sponsibility he engaged in the tilling of the soil. In 1863, when the great 
Civil war was at its height and the demand for volunteers became urgent, 
this lad of seventeen years offered his services to his countr}', and in the 
Sixth Michigan Artillery he rendered valuable aid in the preservation of 



SEATTLE AND KIXG COUNTY. 25 

ihe Union. He participated in the engagements in the vicinity of Mobile, 
at Fort Morgan and Fort Gains. While engaged in service he rece'ved a sun- 
stroke, from the effects of which he has never fully recovered, but he con- 
tinued at his post of duty and at the close of the war received an honorable 
discharge. He served his country faithfully and well, and his war record is 
one of which he has every reason to be proud. Since the war i;is business 
interests have been varied, and for the first few years after its close he fol- 
lowed the life of an agriculturist, while for a time thereafter he was engaged 
in the boot and shoe bvisiness. While a resident of Crawford county he was 
elected on the Republican ticket to the office of county clerk and register 
of deeds, thus serving for six years, and during that time he also read law 
under the preceptorship of Judge J. B. Tuttle. Admitted to ^he bar in 1S89, 
he then began the practice of his chosen profession, and a short time after- 
ward was elected by his fellow townsmen to the position of prosecuting 
attorney of Crawford coimty. On account of impaired health, however, 
he was obliged to seek a change of climate, and he accordingly came to Se- 
attle, casting in his lot with the citizens of this favored section in 1893. 
He was thus obliged to resign the office he was so ably filling, and he arrived 
in this city entirely without means, but by indomitable perseverance he has 
\\-orked his way upward from comparative obscurity to a position of afflu- 
ence. His first work here was in preparing kindling w'ood, for which he 
received ten cents a basket, and in a short time he was able to carry on this 
business in a wholesale way, supplying the grocery houses of the city. In 
1895, however, his business was destroyed by fire, and he was again obliged 
to begin at the bottom round of the ladder, this time embarking m the cigar 
and tobacco business. In the same year he also engaged m the manufac- 
ture of apple cider and vinegar at 601 First avenue, south, beginning the 
business with a small hand press, but he now does both a wholesale and 
retail business. His success is largely due to his capable management, ex- 
ecutive ability, untiring efforts and firm purpose, and as the architect of his 
own fortune he has budded wisely and well. 

The marriage of Mr. Bell was celebrated in 1869, when Miss Sarah 
E. Porter became his wife. She is a native of Jackson county, Michigan, 
and is of Scotch and Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry. Three children have 
been born unto this union, — Frank A., the prosecuting attorney of Mar- 
quette county, Michigan; E. W., an insurance man in the same county; 
and Harry P., who is engaged in business with his father. • Mr. Bell is 
independent in his political views, voting for the men whom he regards as 
best qualified to fill positions of honor and trust, and he is a member of the 



26 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

Masonic fraternity, holding membership in both the bhte lodge and chapter. 
He is also connected with the Knights of Pythias, the Foresters, the Star 
of Bethlehem and the Grand Army of the Republic. 

GEORGE FREDERICK FRYE. 

One of the most prominent and influential pioneer settlers who has long 
been connected with Seattle and her history is George Frederick Frye, who 
arrived on the site of this beautiful and progressive city in 1853. He is 
a native of Germany, his birth having occurred in Weiser, Hanover, on the 
15th of June, 1833. Fie represents an old German family. His father. 
Otto Frye, was born in that country and passed his entire life there. For 
a number of j^ears he served as burgomaster of his town and was a promi- 
nent and respected citizen. He married Sophia Pranga, also a native of 
the same locality. They were members of the Lutheran church, faithful 
to its teachings and were recognized as people of the highest respectability 
and moral worth. The father lived to be sixty-nine years of age, and the 
mother passed away in 1857. In their f.umily were ten children. 

George Frederick Frye was their seventh son, and in his native land 
he pursued his education until he had attained the age of sixteen years, when 
he emigrated to the new world. This was in 1849, and he made his way to 
the United States that he might have better business opportunities in this 
land. He located in Lafayette, Missouri, where his sister was then living, 
and began work as a farn: hand at eight dollars per month. He was indus- 
trious, honest and frugal and was willing to perform any service that would 
yield him an honest living He became an expert driver of oxen, and thu 
rendered his services pecirliarly valuable in th.e new country where he lived. 
He was but nineteen years of age when, in 1852. he engaged to drive four 
yoke of oxen across the plains to Oregon in order to pay his passage. There 
were nine deaths in the party ere they reached their destination, for it was 
the year of the great cholera scourge, and along the line of travel were many 
newly-made graves. The party suffered the usual hardships and trials inci- 
dent to the trip. Their stock was at one time stampeded but they succeeded 
in recovering them, and in September the party arrived safely in Dallas, Ore- 
gon. Mr. Frye spent the winter there in charge of the stock belonging to 
Mr. Hayes, with whom he had made the journey, but most of the cattle died. 
In January.' 1853, he reached Portland. Oregon. It was his intention at the 
cutset of the journey to go to the gold fields of California, but, like other 
members of the party, he was induced to make Oregon his destination. He 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 27 

spent three months in Portland, and during that time he used up the capital 
which he had hrought with hini. He llien secured work in a Hvery stable 
at twenty-five dollars per month and board. It was small wages but much 
better than being idle, and iis he did not have to pay his living expenses he was 
enabled to save some money. In the spring, in company with A. H. Butler, 
who had crossed the plains with him, he made his way to Olympia, Wash- 
ington. They took with them oxen with \'.hich to engage in getting out 
piles. They were accompanied by J. Ennis and E. M. Smithers, and, having 
no trouble with the Indians, they arrived safely at Alki Point, where Mr. 
Frye secured work at three dollars per da}-. 

In 1855, however, the Indians began to threaten war and he was one 
of the volunteers who offered to protect the white settlers. At the time 
of the Indian attack on Seattle he was stationed at that place. He had 
assisted in building the lort there and in sawing the lumber in the sawmill 
which was used in the construction of this house of defense. He was very 
active and helpful all diu^ing the time ^vhen great danger threatened the 
little settlement. After the war he operated the Yesler sawmill for almost 
ten 3'ears, and during six years of that time was in partnership with Arthur 
A. Denny as proprietor of the mill, the firm name being Denny & Company. 

On the 25th of October, i860, Mr. Fr^^e was united in marriage to Miss 
Louisa C. Denny, a daughter of A. A. Denny. He was one of Seattle's first 
settlers and a citizen of \er\' high reputation and influence who rightfully 
acquired the name of "father of the town." After their marriage Mr. Frye 
built a small house on the present site of tlie Stevens hotel. He had a 
tract of land there, forty feet square, for which he paid two hundred dollars. 
Their first home in Seattle was not a pretentious one, as it contained only 
three small rooms, but it was a pioneer period when luxuries and con- 
veniences were almost unkr?own and otlier buildings of the town were scarcelv 
any better, while many were not so commodious. ]\Ir. Frye opened a meat 
market and in his new enterprise met with a high degree of prosperity. He 
also established a baker}-, and in this enterprise Mr. Denny was his partner. 
He applied liimself so closelv to his work, however, that his health failed and 
he was obliged to dispose of his bakery and abandon business for a long 
time in order to regain his lost serength. When he was once more able to 
become an active factor in industrial circles he engaged in steam-boating on 
the J- B. Libby. His first position was that of purser, but finally he became 
captairftand commanded the boat for four years, during which time he was 
also mail agent, carr}-ing the mail from Seattle to Wliatcom and Sameyami, 
making one trip a week. During a period of very h'gh water he almost 



28 REPRESEXTATIN'E CITIZEXS OF 

lost iiis boat, wliich ran aground, and tlie expense of getting the vessel off 
amounted to ten thousand dollars. 

Some time after this Mr. Erye obtained three hundred acres of land 
on White river and was engaged in raising hay and stock, also devoting 
considerable attention to the making of butter. Later, however, he sold 
the farm for seven thousand dollars and returned to Seattle, where, in com- 
pany witii ]\lr. Denny, he conductea a tinshop. When he retired from that 
business he became a stockholder in a co-operation store of which he wa; 
placed in charge, conducting the business for about four years. He was then 
again taken ill and for a long time was in poor health. In 1884 he erected 
the Frye Opera Hall, a large building one hundred and twenty by one hun- 
dred and twenty feet. It was built of brick and was the first opera house in 
the town, but in the great fire of 1889 it was destroyed, causing him a loss 
of about eighty thousand dollars. He was ill at the time of the conflagra- 
tion but recovered so soon afterward that his friends often laughingly claim 
that the fire cured him. In the work of reclaiming Seattle after its destruc- 
tion he built the hotel Stevens, one of the finest blocks in the cit.y, and is still 
its owner. He is also one-fourth owner of the Northern Hotel, which is a 
splendid business structure, and in addition he has a number of buildings on 
Yesler way, one of the best business and residence avenues of the city. With 
this fortunate pioneer the day of small things has passed away, and his large 
investments and business ability have made him one of the capitalists of the 
fair city which he has aided in building. He is now living retired, merely 
superintending his property interests. He was the pioneer meat-market 
man and baker of the city and also erected the first opera house here. His 
love of music led him to establish the first brass band of the city, he per- 
forming upon the E flat horn. 

The home of Mr. and Airs. Fryc has been, blessed with six children, 
namely: J. Marion, who is married and has two children; Mary Louisa, 
now the widow of Captain George H. Fortson, who was killed in the ser\-ice 
of his country in Manila; Sophia S., who is living at home; George Arthur, 
who passed away when twenty-four years of age; Roberta G. and Elizabeth, 
both at home. In politics Mr. Frye is a Republican and has served as a 
member of the city council. He and his family have a very pleasant "home on 
Pike street, where they hr.ve resided for tliiity-five years. No resident of 
Seattle enjoys in a higher degree the good will, respect and esteein of his 
fellowmen, or is more worthy of their regard than this honored pioneer, who 
for a half century has been an important factor in the improvement and up- 
building of Seattle. 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 29 

SETH \\'. CLARK. 

The late trouble between the United States and Spain has given the 
younger generation of Americans a faint idea of the horrors and anxieties of 
war, but the great Civil conflict waged fiercely for four years between broth- 
ers of the north and south, people of one blood, similar aims and manners, 
essentially of one family, was a contest so terrible that the whole world 
looked on and shuddered, as the contestants were much more equally matched 
and the outcome of such vast moment. To the brave boys who wore the 
blue and fought for the Union, that their opponents are now glad was pre- 
served, tributes of praise are freely given by a grateful people, and none who 
went forth in defense of the country deserves them more than the subject of 
this biography. 

Seth William Clark was born in Ellery, Chautauqua county. New York, 
on the 22nd of February,. 1832, and is of English ancestr)^ on the paternal 
side and of Scotch lineage on the maternal side, his ancestors having come to 
the United States at a very early period in American history, the date of their 
arrival being about 1680. A settlement was first made in New England, and 
later on the Hudson river, in New York. Abijah Clark, the grandfather of 
eur subject, was born in I754and became an officer in the Revolutionary war, 
being with General Washington during the trying and ever memorable win- 
ter at Valley Forge. He was a great admirer of tiie commander, who justly 
came to be known as the father of his country. After the war Abijah Clark 
settled near Peekskill, New York, and when the subject of this review was 
a little lad of six years he often sat upon his grandfather's knee and listened 
to !iis stories of the Revolution. At that time his grandfather gave him 
three pieces of Continental script which are still in his possession and are 
a treasured heirloom. The grandfather removed to Ballston, Saratoga 
county, New York, and it was there that his son, Seth Clark, the father of our 
stibject was born on the 20th of March, 1795. Very early in the histor\' of 
Michigan the grandfather removed to that state and died at Ann Arbor 
in March, 1838. A part of the city of Rochester, New York, is built upon 
a farm which he once owned. Seth Clark was married, in Cayuga county. 
New York, to Miss Content Ingraham, a native of Alassachusetts, bom of 
Scotch parentage. Her father was a giant in stature, being almost seven feet 
high. He settled with his family in Schenectady county. New York, and 
served as an ensign in the Avar of 1812, participating in the defense of Buffalo. 
After the close of hostilities he turned his attention to farming. In religious 
faith he was a Baptist and was an extensive reader and a broad-minded man. 



30 REPRESEXTATRE CITIZENS OF 

His life was a splendid example of nioraiily lu his children and al his dcalii, 
which occurred three days prior to the eightieth anniversary oi his birth, 
he left to his family the priceless heritage of an untarnished name. His 
wife died in 1866, at the age of sixty-six years. In their family were five 
children, but only three are now living. 

Seth William Clark was reared xipon tlie honie farm, working out 
through the summer monihs, r^s he aided in tilling the soil and harvesting the 
crops. In the winter he piu'sued his education in the little red school house, 
and later was graduated in a first-class academy and collegiate institute. Not 
desiring to follow the plow as a lite work, )iut wishing to devote his energies 
to a profession, he took up the study of law and was admitted to the bar just 
a short time before the great Civil war broke upon this country. In answer 
to President Lincoln's call for volunteers he at once enrolled himself as a 
private in Company C, Ninth Regiment, New York Cavalry, and was with 
his regiment throughout the war. He participated in the great battle of 
Gettysburg and went through that fearful ordeal without receiving a scratch. 
The regiment now has a granite monument on the battle field. He was 
wounded on the 31st of August, 1862, at the battle of Chantilla, being stmck 
by a bullet in the right leg. He was off duty for a time, but remained with 
his regiment. On the 2nd of February, 1863, at Rappahannock Station, 
l:e sustained a gun-shot wound in the right shoulder which caused him to 
carry his arm in a sling, but he remained with his company and was on the 
skirmish line, using his sabre with his left hand. In a charge at Brandy 
Station on the 9th of June, 1863, he received a sabre wound on his chin, 
which was cut to the bone, and again he had to retire from active field serv- 
ice, but he declined to leave his regiment, and as soon as possible returned 
to active duty. While on the march in 1863 he was shot in the side by a 
bushwhacker, the ball lodging in his vest pocket. On the nth of June, 
J864, at the battle of Trevillian Station, he was again wounded, and his right 
hip joint dislocated. He still carries this ball, and the wound has never 
healed. He laid on the battle field under an apple tree for five days and for 
some time was supposed to be dead but at last was carried to the old tobacco 
warehouse in Richmond, Virginia, by the enemy, after which he was put in 
I.ibby prison and remained there until fall. His bed was but the hard floor 
and his rations consisted of a small piece of corn bread once each day. Late 
in the fall of 1864 he was exchanged, and when he left the prison he was 
hardly more than skin and bones, so emaciated had he become through the 
hardships of southern prison life. He was exchanged for a man who had 
been well kept and could fight. In December, 1864, Mr. Clark was paroled 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 31 

and sent to the hospital at Annapolis, wliere he remained until the following 
spring. After entering the service he had only stood guard for two hours 
until he was promoted to the rank of corporal, and when mustered out he 
was first lieutenant. He would have been captam, but his commission was 
given to another man when he was reported dead, but in the spring of 1865 
the governor of New York commissioned hini a major. When the war 
was ended Mr. Clark went to Washington to settle his accounts with the 
government. He had hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of quarter- 
master's stores to account for, and up to the time that he was disabled by his 
last wound his accounts were found to be exact, and he was highly compli- 
mented upon his records, but after he was wounded so severely and held as 
a prisoner other officers' statements were taken and he had no trouble in the 
settlement. At Washington he was appointed to a clerkship in the govern- 
ment land office on December 23, 1865, and underwent a civil service examin- 
ation as a technical civil engineer and draftsman. He was first given a salary 
of twelve hundred dollars, after which he was promoted to sixteen hundred 
dollars, while subsequently his salary was raised to eighteen hundred dol- 
lars. He was chief clerk of preemption claims, chief clerk of the division 
of railroad lands and chief of the military boundary lands division, and was 
made recorder of the government land office in May, 1876. He served in that 
position for ten years and at times acted as commissioner. He had from 
fifty to one hundred and fifty clerks under his supervision and signed from 
se\-enty-five to one hundred thousand patents per year, but when a change 
came in the presidential administration his office was given to another. Sec- 
retary Lamar, howev^er, appointed him to a clerkship in the pension office, 
in which he served until 1890, when his health failed and he resigned in 
order to come to the w est, hoping that a change of climate would prove bene- 
ficial. Mr. Clark then opened a law office in Seattle as land and pension 
attorney and is now engaged in that department of practice. 

On the 25h of December, 1866, Mr. Clark was united in marriage to 
Miss Nellie Maude Hall, a native of Maine, and unto them have been born 
two daughters, Cora Annetta, the wife of J. Albert Jackson, a resident of 
Dawson, and Gertrude Ingram, now the wife of Ernest Inglee Foster, also 
of Dawson. Mr. and Mrs. Clark are well known people of Seattle, and the 
hospitality of their pleasant home has made it a fa\'orite resort with their 
many friends. They are valued members of the Episcopal church and take 
a deep interest in its work. Mr. Clark cast his first presidential vote for 
Abraham Lincoln, and since that time has been a stanch adherent to the 
Republican part}', believing firmly in its principles. He has been an active 



32 REPRESENTATR'E CITIZENS OF 

and liighly esteemed member of the Grand Army of the RepubHc and served 
as commander of Stevens Post, No. i. of Seattle. He also served as assistant 
cidjutant-general for the department of Washington and Alaska. For seven 
years he was president of the Kings County Emigrant Society, and during 
his residence in this city he has taken a deep interest in its welfare and growth, 
doing all in his power for its materia! advancement and substantial upbuild- 
ing. His has been an honorable career largely devoted to his country's 
ser\ ice, either in military or civil oltice, and his loyalty and fideUty are among 
his most marked characteristics. No trust reposed in him has ever been 
betrayed in the slightest degree, and his fidelity stands as an unquestioned 
fact in his life. As long as memory remains to the American people they will 
hold in grateful recognition the work accomplished by the boys in blue, and 
among the number who went in defense of the Union there was no truer 
or bra\er soldier than Seth William Clark. 

HENRY W. AlARKEY. 

Henry W. Markey is the owner and manager of the Commercial Street 
Boiler W'orks of Seattle and now stands at the head of one of the excellent 
hidustrial concerns of the city, being extensively engaged in the manufac- 
ture of steam boilers of ever}' description, from the smallest in size to the 
>-ery largest. Desiring to make Seattle the base of his business operations 
he arrived in this city in 1887, when it was comparatively a sma!! place, luit 
it then gave promise of reaching its present metropolitan proportions. Mr. 
Markey arrived here and began working at his trade of boiler making for 
Mr. Penny, being thus employed for a year and a half and then recogniz- 
ing the splendid business openings in the Queen city of the northwest he 
established a business of his own on King street and had entered upon a 
prosperous career when the great fire swept over the city on the 6th of 
June. 1889. He thereby met with very heav}^ losses and to a man of less 
resolute purpose such a disaster would have been utterly discouraging, but 
Mr. Markey did not give way to discouragement or let misfortune triumph 
over him. He purchased his present location, erected his shops and soon 
had all the business he could attend to, his trade taxing the capacity of his 
plant to the utmost. He manufactures all kinds of marine and mill boilers, 
also sheet iron work of every description. He is a thorough and practical 
mechanic himself and is therefore capable of superintending the labors of 
the men whom he employs. He gives close attention to the work and the 
fullest satisfaction is guaranteed, so that his liberal and honorable Inisinegs 




/ / 



'6o. 



■<i:i^/ 




SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 33 

methods have secured for him a well earned success and a wide and favor- 
able acquaintance in Seattle. 

This enterprising citizen was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on the 
loth of September, 1855, and is of Scotch and Irish ancestry. His par- 
ents were Patrick and Mary (McKensie) Markey, who when young people 
came to Canada and were there married. Unto them were born eight chil- 
dren, three of whom reside upon the Pacific coast : James, a contractor and 
builder of Seattle; John, a mason, residing in San Francisco, and Henry W. 
The parents have both passed away. 

Henry Markey received his education in the public schools of Milwau- 
kee, Wisconsin, and after putting aside his text books he learned the trade 
of boiler making there. After mastering the business and gaining a good 
practical knowledge of the work in all its departments he removed to Grand 
Forks, South Dakota, where he opened a shop, conducting it for three years 
prior to his arrival in Seattle. From the time he came to this city his ad- 
vancement in business affairs has been continuous and the passing years 
have credited to his account a splendid success. 

In 1891 Mr. Markey was united in inarriage to Miss Bertha Cahill, a 
■lative of Wisconsin, and their union has been blessed with four children : 
Francis, Joseph, Henry and Helen. In his political views Mr. Markey is 
a Republican, but has neither sought nor desired political preferment, his 
attention being full occupied by his business interests and the enjoyments 
of social life. His history is an illustration of what may be accomplished 
through determined purpose, indefatigable energy and straightforward busi- 
ness methods. 

EDWARD C. KILBOURNE. 

Prominent among tlie energetic, far-seeing and successful business men 
of western Washington is the subject of this sketch. His life history most 
happily illustrates what may be attainefl by faithful and contintied effort in 
carrying out an honest purpose. Integrity, activity and energy have been 
the crowning points of his success and his connection with various business 
enterprises and industries has been a decided advantage to this section of the 
state, promoting its material welfare in no uncertain manner. Seattle owes 
much to his efforts, for his varied business interests have been of such a 
character as to promote the general growth, upbuilding and prosperity while 
leading to individual success. 

Dr. Kilbourne is a native of \''crnion.t. his birth having occurred at 



34 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

St. Johnsbury on tlie 13th of January, 1856. Far bac!c into the early annal-5 
of England can his family history be traced, for there are records con- 
cerning the Kilbournes as early as 1000 A. D.. while the connection of the 
family with America dates from 1640, at which time representatives of the 
name became residents of Boston. Everet Horatio Kilbourne, the father of 
the Doctor, was born in Berkshire, Vermont, in 182.3, and became a very 
prominent member of the dental profession, his superior skill and ability 
•winning him marked prestige which made him known throughout the coun- 
try. After his removal westward he served as president of the Illinois 
Dental Society and of the Auicrican Dental Association. It was in 1858 that 
he took up his abode in Aurora, Illinois, ^^here he spent his remaining days, 
his research and investigation in the line of his profession enabling him to 
advance its interests and promote the efficiency of the labors of its repre- 
sentatives throughout the counlry. Dr. Killiourne was united in marriage 
to Miss Frances A. Stone, a native of Chelsea, Vermont, and a daughter 
of Colonel Stone, who commanded a regiment in the Revolutionary war, 
his loyalty to the cause making him a valued soldier. Unto Dr. E. H.- Kil- 
bourne and his wife were born five children, all of whom are yet li\ing. 

Dr. Edward Corliss Kilbourne was the third in order of birth. He 
was educated in the public schools of Aurora. Illinois, and under the direc- 
tion of his father he studied dentistry, which he practiced for ten years 
before his removal to the west. He was fortunate in having a preceptor 
whose knowledge was so broad and accurate and thus he laid the foundation 
for a successful career in his chosen profession. In 1883 he arrived in 
Seattle, and for five years continued the practice of dentistry, winning an 
extensive patronage. He also organized the State Dental Society, was 
elected its first secretary, and was instrumental in securing the passage of the 
fi'-st law in the territory regulating the practice of dentistry, which was the 
means of maintaining a high standard in the profession and preventing char- 
latanism from gaining a hold here. He had the honor of being the presi- 
dent of the first territorial board of dental examiners, and during his active 
connection with the profession he was one of its most interested and able 
representatives. 

Becoming deejily impressed with the great future before Seattle, in 1888 
he retired from the practice of dentistry in order to give his attention to the 
promotion of various enterprises intended to advance the city's growth and 
progress. Fortunate has it been for the city that he took this step, for his 
sagacity, prescience, enterprising and unconquerable energ}' have proven a 
most potent element in the upbuilding of Seattle — so aptly termed the "queen of 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 35 

the west." He became extensivel)^ interested in city real estate and has handled 
much valuable property. He was one of the organizers of the first success- 
ful electric railway system on the Pacific coast and in the United States, and 
was thus largely instrumental in the upbuilding of the prosperous town of 
Freemont, suburb of this city. The new company formed was consolidated 
with the Seattle Street Railway Company, which was then operating its line 
with horses, and took the name of the Seattle Electric Railway & Power Com- 
pany. The line was constructed from Main street on Commercial, on James 
to Second avenue and to Pike, with a branch to Lake Union and another to 
the foot of Queen Ann hill, north. Dr. Kilboume was first made secretary 
of the company, later its president and subsequently treasurer. He was also 
general manager of the Green Lake Electric Railway Company, and became 
a director and stockholder of the Freemont Milling Company, the Lake Union 
Transportation Company and the Standard Electric Time Company. In 
1890 he became interested in another enterprise of much importance to the 
city, organizing the Pacific Electric Light Company, which soon absorbed 
the Commercial Light Company and later absorbed the Seattle General 
Electric Company, which . was the original one. The company as thus 
formed became the Union Electric Company, with a capital of one million 
dollars, and having practically all the lighting of the city. Recently the 
Union Company united with the various street railway companies, form- 
ing the Seattle Electric Company, with a capital of eight million dol- 
lars, the Doctor being manager of the light and power department. The 
Doctor was also one of tlie origmal organizers of the company which is 
now the Denny Clay Company, extensive manufacturers of brick, terra cotta 
and other products. His business interests have been of so important and 
varied a character that they have been closely associated with the material 
development and progress of Seattle, and he seems to have realized at any 
one point of his career the full measure of success possible at that time. He 
forms his plans readily and ;s determined in their execution and always his 
labors have been in strict conformity to the highest standard of commercial 
ethics. 

In 1886 Dr. Kilboume was united in marriage to Miss Leilla Shorey, 
who was born at Steilacoom, Pierce county, Washington, and has lived at 
Seattle since early childhood. I'hey are active and consistent members of 
the Plymouth Congregational church and are interested and valued workers 
in the Sunday-school. He was a trustee when the new church was built and 
was chairman of the committee that recently raised the thirty thousand dollars 
to clear the church property from debt. Both he and his wife enjoy the high 



36 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

regard of all who have tl:c pleasuie of their acquaintance and the hospitaHty 
of their pleasant home renders it a favorite resort. Mr. Kilboume is one of 
the active members of the Young Men's Christian Association and does all 
in his power to promote its growth and welfare. In 1890 he was honored 
with an election to its presidency, was continued in that office for six years 
and is still a trustee, the society makmg satisfactory advancement during that 
time. He was one of the first to start the movement among the young men 
of the city to raise a fund of twelve thousand dollars with w'hich to purchase a 
lot, on which they now have a fine and commodious home, the property having 
since largely increased in value, owing to the growth of the city. The Doctor 
w^as likewise interested in military affairs and became a charter member of 
the Seattle Rifles. His success in life can be unquestionably attributed to 
his untiring industry, energy and enterprise, as well as to his high integrity 
of character. He has never selfishly hoarded his means, but has always been 
a generous contributor to the support of all mo\-ements intended to advance 
the welfare of the city. "The liberal man deviseth liberal things and by 
liberal things he shall stand." No wonder that Seattle has become the queen 
oity of the northwest when so many of her representatives have shown untir- 
ing devotion to her interer,ts and have put forth every efTort for her upbuild- 
ing. INIoral. intellectual nnd material progress have all received encourage- 
ment from Dr. Kilbournc, and his wortii to the community ranks him among 
ner most honored and respected men. 

NEIL S. PETERSON. 

The suliject of this sketch was born on the sixteenth day of January. 
1852, on the Island of Zealand, Denmark. He passed his early boyhood on d 
farm. He attended the public schools of Denmark, from which he was 
graduated, after w'hich he took a course of instruction under private tutors 
in the city of Copenhagen. This course included natural history studies 
and languages, and the English tongue and literature formed one of the 
principal features. 

In 1870, Mr. Peterson left Denmark on a vessel bound via Cape of Good 
Hope for Australia, w-here he arrived in the spring of 1871, first landing at 
Brisbane, Colony of Queensland. He resided some years on the Island Con- 
rinent, which he left in 1878 for San Francisco. In August, 1878, he went 
from San Francisco to Salt lake City and joined his brother, J. C. Peterson, 
who had preceded him to America. The brothers thereafter engaged in a 
general merchandise lousiness at Dillon, Montana, from which point their 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 37 

business followed the construction of the Utah & Northern Railway to Silver 
Bow Junction. They afterwards settled in Shoshone, Idalio, which was 
then the western terminus of the Oregon Short Line. Here they carried on 
a mercantile business until 1886, when they disposed of all their interests and 
removed to Seattle, \vhere they entered into a general investment business. 
After the great fire of June 6, 1889, they dissolved partnership. 

Neil S. Peterson took to the study of law and was in due time admitted 
to the bar. During his student days he served as clerk in charge of the pro- 
bate business in the office of the clerk of the superior court at Seattle. This 
service gave him close familiarity with probate practice, and a large propor- 
tion of his business since he entered upon independent practice has consisted 
in the settlement of estates. He is of a highly cavttious temperament, a close 
and critical reader of statutes and decisions, and therefore particularly adapted 
to the conduct of a branch of practice requiring the utmost care and particu- 
larity. He is a most conscientious and trustworthy member of the bar, and 
commands in an eminent degree the respect of his professional brethren and 
of his clients. 

Mr. Peterson was married in the year 1890. His wdfe died in 1896, 
leaving a son and daughter, respectively John Franklin and Eva Marion. 
He lias not remarried. 

Mr. Peterson was made a Freemason on ]\Iarch 27, 1878, in Australia, 
in Leinster Marine Lodge, No. 266 on the registry of the Grand Lodge of 
Ireland. From this lodge he took a demit and afiiliated wdth Argenta Lodge, 
No. 3, Salt Lake City, from which in time he demitted to become a chart* 
member of Bethany Lodge, No. 21, at Shoshone, Idaho. From this latter 
lodge he took a demit and affiliated on May 25, 1S89. with St. John's Lodge, 
No. 9, Seattle, and ever since that time he has been closely identified with the 
work and history of that lodge. He served as its master in 1893, and has 
since 1897 continuously served as its secretary. His well known carefulness, 
accuracy and love of system have made him the model lodge secretary of the 
state of Washington. He has taken all the degrees of the York rite. On 
Alay 23d, 1 888, he was exalted to the Augtist degree of the Royal Arch in 
Seattle Chapter, No. 3, R. A. M. Here, too, he went to the top by sheer force 
of ability and character, and in 1894 presided over this chapter as M. E. High 
Priest. Since 1897 he has served continuously as secretary of this chapter. 
He was one of the charter members of Seattle Council, No. 6, Royal and Se- 
lect Masters, organized in 1894, and attained the highest position in it, that 
of Thrice Illustrious Master. In this section of Masonry he became the 
head of the organization in the state. In due time he was created a Knight 



38 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

Templar in Seattle Commander}-, No. 2, of which he is still a member. Be- 
si'les being a memljer of Lorraine Chapter, No. 6, Order of the Eastern Star, 
Mr. Peterson joined the Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine 
in Afiii Temple at Tacoma, and he still retains his membership there. He 
is also a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. The char- 
acteristic of his mind in lodge as well as in other work which he undertakes 
is thoroughness. He does nothing by halves; he hesitates at no labor neces- 
sary to render himself perfect in any part or position which he assumes. 
He is very highly esteemed among his brethren of the ]\Iystic Tie, as he is 
in the community at large. 

FRANKLIN A. BUCK.' 

When the discovery of gold in California Jittracted to the Pacific coast 
Tnen from all sections of the country Franklin A. Buck made his way with 
others to the mming regions, ana the history of those days in the early annals 
of the state which now read almost like a fairy tale is familiar to him through 
practical experience. Since 1889 he has been identified with business inter- 
ests in Seattle, and as the years have passed prosperity has attended his efforts 
and he is now a citizen of affluence. 

Mr. Buck was born ni 1826 at Bucksport, Maine, a town named in honor 
of his great-grandfather, Jonathan Buck, who ^vas the first settler there and 
owned the land on which the village was built. He had removed from 
Haverhill, Massachusetts, to the Pine Tree state, and was of English descent, 
his ancestors having arrived in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1636, William Buck 
having been the progenitor of the family in the new world. Jonathan Buck 
served as a colonel in the Continental army during the Revolutionary war 
and his house was burned by the British, but his efforts were not in vain, the 
glorious victory of the American arms giving rise to the greatest republic on 
the face of the globe. All of the early members of the Buck family were 
Puritans in their religious faith. Daniel Buck, the grandfather of our sub- 
ject, was born in Haverhill, Massachusetts, and wedded Mary Sewall, a 
daughter of Colonel Dummer Sewall. a prominent ship builder who also 
owned a number of vessels. Daniel Buck carried on merchandising and 
farming. He had inherited one hundred acres of land, an equal share going 
to each of the children of the great-grandfather's household. Daniel Buck 
died in the seventieth year of his age. 

Rufus Buck, the father of our subject, was also l)orn in Bucksport, in 
1797. He became a prominent business man and had a sawmill and store. 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 39 

He married Sarah Somerby and they spent the entire period of their married 
Hves in Bucksport. The father was a very prominent and influential citizen 
and was honored with pubhc office, serving as cohector of customs and as a 
member of the state legislature. He died in 1878, at the age of eighty-two 
years, and his wife passed away at the age of seventy years. They were 
members of the Congregational church, and in their family were three children, 
of whom the subject of this sketch is the only survivor. 

Franklin A. Buck spent his early life in the town of his nativity and 
after attending the common schools became a student in Phillips Academy, 
at Andover, Massachusetts. At the age of twenty years he left home and 
started out to make his own way in the world, going to New York city, 
where he remained until January, 1849. In the previous fall gold had been 
discovered on the Pacific coast and in the hope of readily acquiring a for- 
tune men were making their way to that district from all sections of the 
country. Mr. Buck joined the California a-rgonauts and also sailed in search 
of the golden fleece on the brig George Emeiy for San Francisco. He 
went as supercargo. They made the long passage around the Horn in 
safet}', arriving in San Francisco, on the 6th of x\ugust, 1849. ^^^- Buck 
then left the ship and went to Weaverville and Downeyville, being engaged 
in placer mining in 1850, 1851 and 1852, but he only met with ordinary- 
success, and resolved that he would seek a fortune in some other way. 

In 1855 ^'^^- Buck built a sawmill in Trinity county, on the north 
fork of the Trinity river, and his lumber sold for fifty dollars per thousand 
feet at the mill. He continued to prosper in this undertaking until 1858, 
at which time he returned to the east by way of the Isthmus of Panama. 
He remained in the east for a year, during which time he was married 
at Bucksport, to Miss Jennie M. Pierce, a native of that town. He brought 
his bride with him on his second trip to California, and for seven years re- 
mained at Weaverville, during which time two children were born to them : 
Arthur, now in business in Seattle, and Emma Louise, the wife of Homer 
F. Norton, of Seattle. Two other children were afterward added to the 
family : Mary Sewall, who was born in Red Blufi^, California, and is now the 
wife of B. T. Carr, of Seattle; and Rufus, born in Pioche, Nevada. 

In 1866 Mr. Buck removed with his family from Weaverville, Cali- 
fornia, and spent three years in Chico and Red Bluff, that state, where he 
was engaged in buying and selling stock. In 1869 thej^ removed to Pioche, 
Nevada, where he continued his stock business for ten years. He had a 
cattle ranch and was also interested in mining enterprises and in lumber- 
ing. His next place of residence was at Napa Valley, California, where he 



40 REPRESExNTATlVE CITIZENS OF 

liad charjje of a large ranch of live hundred acres and did all kinds of farm- 
ing. He also engaged in the manufacture of wine there. In 1889 he came 
to Seattle, bringing with him a stock of California wine, and engaged in 
the sale of that product, his business ultimately developing into an exten- 
sive wholesale liquor business. It is now incorporated and his son Arthur 
is the president and manager, while Mr. Buck is the vice president. Since 
1898, however, he has been practically retired from active business, save 
that he is engaged in loaning money and in the supervision of his private 
interests. 

In 1899 ]\lr. Buck was called upon to mourn the loss of his wife. She 
was devoted to her family and her place in the household is one which can 
never be filled, while many friends outside of the family also miss the com- 
panionship of Mrs. Buck. Mr. Buck is a member of the Society of the 
Sons of the American Revolution, and in politics he has been a Republican 
from the organization of that party. He has built several residences in 
Seattle, and has great faith in the future of the city. Coming to the Pacific 
coast among the '49ers he is one of the honored pioneers of this portion 
of the country and is veiy widely known and honored. 

HENRY L. SIZER. 

Henry L. Sizer, one of Seattle's thoroughly reliable business men, act- 
ively engaged in the real-estate and insurance business, was born in Fonda, 
Montgomery county. New York, on the 14th of February, 1853, and was 
descended from Holland ancestry who settled in central New York at a 
veryf early day, becoming pioneers of that part of the state. Edwin Sizer, 
father of our subject, was born in Montgomery county, and through his 
business career carried on merchandising and farming. He was a devoted 
member of the Dutch Reformed church and a man of sterling worth, reli- 
able in business and trustworthy in all life's relations. He married Miss 
Anna Mariah Loucks, who was born in his own country and was also of good 
old Holland stock, which became so prominent in the settlement of tlic 
Empire state. Both the Sizer and Loucks families were represented in the 
Revolutionai-y war by those of the name who espoused the cause of the col- 
onies and fought for American independence. The mother of our subject 
departed this life in the fiftieth year of her age, while Mr. Sizer reached the 
age of sixty-seven years. They were quiet, industrious people, who had 
many friends and no enemies and their memory is still enshrined in the 
hearts of many who knew them. They were the parents of three children. 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 41 

two of whom are living. The daughter, iNlrs. James }>.[. Cole, resides at the old 
home in Fonda, New York. 

Henry L. Sizer was educated in the public schools of his native town 
and in academies at Poughkeepsie and Geneva, New York, and began his 
business career as a representative of mercantile interests. He continued 
in that business for a number of years in the east and in the fall of 1890 
he came to Seattle and established a fire insurance agency, to which a little 
later he added the life insurance business and subsequently e.Ntended the field 
of his labors by adding a real-estate department. By persistent and hon- 
orable effort he has gradually assumed a paying business. He has become 
an investor and handles real estate both on his own occount and for others. 
He is also general agent for a number of strong insurance companies, includ- 
ing the Pennsylvania IMutual Life and the old Quaker Company. As a 
business man and citizen he has earned an enviable reputation. 

]\lr. Sizer was happily married, in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1878, to Miss 
Ida ]May ilanning, a native of Louisville, Kentucky, and a daughter of 
Edward Manning of that state. The union has been blessed with four sons : 
Glen Dumont, Harry Edward, Burton DeBaun and Lawrence Manning. 
]\Ir. and Mrs. Sizer are \'alued members of the Plymouth Congregational 
church, of which he is one of the deacons and superintendent of Sunda)"- 
school. He has also served as state secretary of the Young Peoples Soci- 
ety of Christian Endeavor, of the State Smiday-school Association and of 
the Washington Bible Society. He is also a member 01 the Law and Order 
League of Seattle and the Anti-Saloon League, taking an active interest in 
e\-er\'thing tending to promote moral development and uplift humanity. 
During the twelve years of his residence in Seattle he has become widely 
Icnown in connection with such Avork, and as a member of the Chamber of 
Commerce he is brought in touch with the business interests of the city. 

In national politics Mr. Sizer is an active, earnest Republican, support- 
ing the policies of his party at home and on the stump. Though never ac- 
cepting of^ce, he has acted as campaign chairman of Republican organiza- 
tions at his old home in New York state and in Seattle. Locally Mr. Sizer 
votes independently for those whom he believes to be the best men. 

EDUARD P. EDSEN. 

A man of distinction in political, professional and literary circles, and 
equally prominent socially, Eduard Polonius Edsen well deserves mention 
in this volume, for he has left the impress of his individuality upon the 



42 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

progress and upbuilding of Seattle in many lines. He has accomplished 
much in the period of his earthly pilgrimage, having become a celebrated 
lawyer of the northwest, a writer of considerable ability, while in political 
circles he wields a wide influence, although he has never been connected with 
political work for the rewards of office, in fact has steadfastly refused to be- 
come a candidate for any political preferment. 

Mr. Edsen is a native of Husum, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, his 
birth having there occurred on the 29th of April, 1856. He is a representative 
of one of the old families 01 his native land. His father, Hinrich J. Edsen. 
was born near the same town in 1825, and v.as a civil engineer and an officer 
in the German army, serving in the war of 1848-50 that shaped the destiny 
of the German empire. He married Miss Lucie J. Peterson, who was a na- 
tive of his own town, born in 1831, and descended from a long line of mili- 
tary officers. Pie died in 1866, at the age of forty-one years, and his w'ife 
passed away in 1900, in the seventieth year of her age. They were mem- 
bers of the Lutheran church and so lived as to gain the esteem and good will 
of a large circle of friends. They had five children, three sons and two 
daughters, four of whom are living, Eduard and his sister, ^Irs. H. F. Nom- 
mensen, being the only members of the famil)^ in Washington. 

Eduard P. Edsen was educated in the schools and colleges of his home. 
After completing his education he spent four years in travel and arri\-ed in 
Portland, Oregon, on the iSth of November, 1876. He had received a 
classical and military education in his native land, but being unfamiliar with 
the English language in his country he accepted a position on the farm of 
William Freels near Sandy postoffice, Oregon, where he remained until 
March, 1877, and as far as possible in that time gained a knowledge of the 
English tongue. At the date just mentioned he turned his attention to sal- 
mon fishing, which he followed for a year, at Brookfield, Washington, and 
then pursued a course in a business college in Portland, perfecting himself 
in English under private tutors. Subsequently he worked as a deck hand on 
the Columbia river, followed by six months spent at lumbering and in filling 
contracts for wood at Walla Walla. In the spring of 1S79 he found employ- 
ment in Stahl's brewery and wholesale liquor business in Walla Walla, where 
by reason of his faithful attention to business he was rapidly advanced to 
the position of general manager. About this time he made an unfortunate 
investment of the greater part of his savings. 

In 1881 Mr. Edsen began conducting a real-estate and insurance agency 
at Walla Walla, in partnership with V. D. Lambert. In the summer of 1883 
he visited the Sound, finallv locatino- at Seattle in December. In the fol- 



SEATTLE AND KING COL'XTY. 43 

lowing January he was admitted to the bar of the supreme court at Olympia, 
and on April 4, 1894, was admitted to the supreme court of the United 
States at Washington, D. C. His mastery of no less than seven languages 
soon secured him the major portion of the foreign law business of the city. 
He readily gained recognition as a leading member of the bar and his busi- 
ness affairs prospered while his popularity grew with his wide circle of 
acquaintances. In November, 1S89, Mr. Edsen formed a law partnership 
with the Hon. Will H. Thompson and the Hon. John E. Humphries, under 
the style of Thompson, Edsen & Humphries, which partnership continued for 
eight years and the firm became recognized as a leading one on the Pacific 
coast. The partnership terminated w-hen Mr. Thompson became attorne}- 
for the Great Northern Railway Company, and Mr. Edsen is now practicing 
his profession alone, with offices in the Hotel Seattle block. 

He has taken a deep interest and has been an important factor in pro- 
moting the military organizations of the state of Washington. In 1884 he 
was the organizer of Company D, First Regiment of the National Guard of 
Washington, and became its first captain. Being an expert drill master, his 
company, as well as Rainier Division, No. 18, Uniformed Rank of the 
Knights of Pythias, organized by him in 1892, ranked among the best in the 
many competitive drills held at Seattle, Tacoma and New Westminster, B. 
C, carrying off prizes at each meet. He has held the office of assistant judge 
advocate general of the Washington brigade, filling the position with dis- 
tinction since 1892, and was aide de camp on the staff of Governor William 
A. Newell, with the rank of colonel. It should also be stated that in 1878 he 
was one of the organizers of the Walla Walla Artillerx', which is now the old- 
est military company in the state, under the name of Company A, Second 
Regiment, N. G. W. 

His membership in social and fraternal organizations is extensive and 
includes the Knights of Pythias ; Knights of Malta ; Knights of the Golden 
Eagle; Ancient Order of Druids; the Ancient Order of United Workmen; 
the Royal Arcanum ; the Order of Chosen Friends ; the four branches of the 
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of which order he is now serving his 
tenth term as president of the general relief committee : and the Fraternal Order 
of Eagles, for which order he wrote the rituals for the Grand Aerie and Sub- 
ordinate Aeries, complete with all its additional ceremonies, etc., as well as 
ihe complete code of laws for the government of the order named. In the 
last named order he holds the highest office, that of chief justice, with rank of 
past grand worthy president. He was one of the founders of the Seattle 
Turn Verein and since 1880 h;is liecn president of the George Washington 



44 REPRESEXTAT1\"E CITIZENS OF 

Branch of the Irish National League. In 189..1 Colonel Edsen was the ac- 
credited representative from the state of Washington at the World's Fair 
at Antwerp, Belgium, being present at its formal opening by King Leopold 
II, on May 5th. The Colonel has also made numerous creditable contribu- 
lions to periodical literature in both prose and verse, having shown particular 
ability in the latter in his mastery of the frontier and miner dialects. In 
politics he has ever been a stanch Republican, but though a recognized party 
leader and frequently urged to accept nomination for office he has steadfastly 
refused to become a candidate. For several years, however, he has been 
president of the German American Republican Club of the state of Washing- 
ton, as well as of the local branch at Seattle. 

Colonel Edsen was happily married, on the ist of July, 1901, to JNIiss 
Blanche Marie Clark, and they now reside at his country residence, Eden- 
wild, in Kitsap county, Washington, whence he each day goes to his office in 
the city. Mrs. Edsen is a daughter of Charles Clark, a native of England 
and a resident of Youngstown. Ohio. Mrs. Edson's mother was formerly 
^liss Elizabeth Sutton, also a native of England. Colonel and Mrs. Edsen 
are members of the Lutheran church and stand very high in the social circles 
of the city in which the Colonel has made such an enviable record. On April 
.'3, 1902, a bouncing boy was born to them, who received the imposing name 
of Edward Clark McKinley Edsen. Colonel Edsen is a man of powerful 
physique and commanding presence and is what he appears to be — a man of 
integrity, energy and resourcefulness. 

\\illia:\i harbaugh white. 

William Harbaugh White is one of the ablest lawyers practicing at the 
Seattle bar. A man of sound judgment, he manages his cases with masterly 
skill and tact, is a logical reasoner and has a ready command of English. 
He was born in Sewickley, Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, on the nth 
of November, 1859, and is of Scotch-Irish ancestry. He is a lineal descend- 
ant of Hughey White, who came to this country from the north of Ireland 
at a very early day in its history and settled in Virginia near Jamestown. 
Our subject's maternal great-great-grandfather Hoey was also a representa- 
tive of an old Virginian family, and on both sides his ancestors participated 
in the Revolutionary war. His great-grandfather White was a native of 
the Old Dominion, as was also his grandfather, John White, but his father, 
J. W. I. White, was born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, and spent 
bis entire life in that state. He served as justice of the common pleas court 



SEATTLE AND KIXG COUNTY. 45 

of Allegheny county for many years, and was still on the bench at the time 
of his death, which occurred November 6, 1900, when he vvas eighty years 
of age. Religiously he was an active and prominent member of the Meth- 
odist Episcopal church, and was an official member of the same. He attended 
the first Republican convention, and assisted in organizing the party in his 
section of the state, where he was a recognized leader in public affairs. In 
early life he was united in marriage with I\Iary Thorn, also a native of Penn- 
sylvania, who is now in her seventy-fifth year, and is still living at the old 
home in Sewickley, honored and respected by all who have the pleasure of 
hei accjuaintance. They were the parents of six children, five sons and one 
daughter, of whom five are still living. 

William Harbaugh White passed his boyhood and youth in his native 
state and was educated at x\llegheny College, where he was graduated in 
1880. He read law with his father. Judge White, and for two years was 
also a student in the office of Slagle & Wiley of Pittsburg. After his admis- 
sion to the bar in 1882, he engaged in practice in that city for a time, and 
in 1888 was elected to the Pennsylvania legislature, in which he served one 
term. 

Shortly afterward Mr. \Vhite came to Seattle and from 1893 until 1895 
was a member of the law firm of Pratt & \\'hite, but since that time has 
been alone in practice. Coming here a stranger it was some time before 
he became well acquainted, but his ability in his chosen profession is now 
widely recognized and he is at the head of a large civil law practice, being 
attorney for a number of prominent corporations. He is not only a good 
lawyer but is a good business man as well, in fact possesses unusual abil- 
ity in that direction, and is to-day a stockholder in a number of corporations 
and business enterprises, which have not only promoted individual prosperity, 
but ha\'e materially ad\-anced the interests of his adopted city. He was one 
of the organizers- and builders of the Seattle Central Railroad. 

In 1887 Mr. White married Miss Kate Erwin, a native of his own birth- 
place, and to them have been born three daughters, Kathrv-n, Esther and 
Emma. The family ha\-e a delightful home, where hospitality reigns su- 
preme. ]\Ir. and Airs. White are active members of the Baptist church, of 
which he is one of the trustees, and he is also connected with a number of 
fraternal societies, including the Independent Order of Foresters, the \\'ood- 
men of the World, the Modern Woodmen of America, the Benevolent Pro- 
tective Order of Elks and the Knights of Pythias. Politically he is an ardent 
Republican, and in 1900 was a candidate of his party for prosecuting attor- 
ney of the city. Public-spirited and progressive, he takes an active interest 



46 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

in public affairs, and willihokls his support from no enterprise calculated 
to advance the general welfare. His genial, pleasant manner makes him 
quite popular in both business and social circles, and he is recognized as a 
valued citizen of the community. 

FRED RICE ROWELL. 

Fred Rice Rowell is actively connected with a profession which has im- 
portant bearing upon the progress and stable prosperity of any section or 
community, and one which has long been considered as promoting the public 
welfare by furthering the ends of justice and maintaining mdividual rights. 
His reputation as a lawyer has been won through earnest, honest labor, and 
his standing at the bar is a merited tribute to his ability. He now has a very 
large practice and is particularly well known in connection with the depart- 
ment of mining law. 

Although the extreme northwestern portion of the country is now his 
place of residence, the birth of Mr. Rowell occurred in the extreme north- 
eastern section of this fair land, for he first opened his eyes to the light of 
day in South Thomaston, Knox county, Maine, on the 29th of December, 
1856. He is descended from English ancestors who were early settlers of 
Nottingham, New Hampshire. His great-grandfather, William Rowell, was 
born in 1755, and removed to Thomaston, Maine, where he spent the re- 
mainder of his life. He volunteered for service in the Revolutionary war 
and became a private in the company which was commanded by Captain 
Henry Dearborn and was attached to the regiment under command of Col- 
onel John Stark, He participated in the battle of Bunker Hill and in other 
engagements rendered valuable service to the cause of liberty. He departed 
this life on the 30th of September, 181 1. His son. Rice Rowell, the grand- 
father of our subject, became one of the early business men of South Thomas- 
ton, Maine, where he owned a sawmill and engaged in the manufacture of lum- 
ber. He owned a farm upon which he resided and where he died when about 
seventy years of age. 

His son, Luther H. Rowell. the father of Fred Rice, was born on the 
farm at South Thomaston and our subject was the representative in the 
fourth generation of the family born in the same room. Such a tact is quite 
unusual among the migratory people of this country and shows that the 
Rowells believed in letting well enough alone. The property is still in pos- 
session of a member of the family and thus for more than a century it has 
been known as the Rowell homestead. Luther Rowell was united in mar- 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 47 

riage to Sarah W. Matthews and tliey continued to reside upon the farm 
until the time of her death, which occurred when she was forty-nine years 
of age. She left five children, all of whom are yet living. The father is 
now retired from active business and is living in Seattle, at the age of sixty- 
eight years, respected and honored by all who know him. He has been a 
life-long Democrat and in his early life ser\^ed as selectman of his town, was 
also town clerk and held other local offices, filling every position to which he 
w-as called with ability and integrity and enjoying the fullest confidence of 
his fellow men. All of his family now reside on the Pacific coast. 

Fred Rice Rowell, the eldest member of his father's family, obtained 
his early education in the public schools, later went through the work of the 
senior year in the Cobern Classical Institute, at Waterville, Maine, and is a 
graduate of Colby College, in the class of 1881. Wishing to engage in the 
practice of law as a life work, he then began reading in the office of the Hon. 
A. P. Gould, in Thomaston, and was admitted to the bar. For five years 
thereafter he practiced law with success in Rockland, Maine, and while resid- 
ing in South Thomaston was elected town clerk and school superintendent. 

In i\Iay, 1888, Mr. Rowell arrived in Seattle and was first associated 
with Judge I. M. Hall, in the practice of his profession. Later he was alone 
in business and then entered into partnership with Judge John O. Robin- 
son, the relationship being maintained for a number of years, while the firm 
enjoyed a satisfactory and lucrative general practice. I\Ir. Rowell, how- 
ever, is now again alone in business, and for the past two years he has 
delivered lectures to the class in mining at the state university. His 
clientage is large and his ability as a prominent lawyer is widely acknowl- 
edged. 

On the i6th of January, 1884, Mr. Rowell was united in marriage to 
Mary Florence Stetson, a native of the town in which his birth occurred, and 
a daughter of Emory L. Stetson. Both Mr. and Mrs. Rowell liold member- 
ship in St. Mark's Episcopal church. He is also a member of the Brother- 
hood of St. Andrew and a member of its council in the United States. He 
takes an active part in church work and does much for the upbuilding of the 
cause. Like his father he has adhered to the Democratic party and is a 
strong believer in its principles as advocated by the Hon. W. J. Bry^^'''- He 
has done much effective campaign work for the party and has taken a deep 
interest in the affairs of his city, doing all in his power for its substantial im- 
provement. He belongs to the Washington State Historical Society and is 
a gentleman of broad general information and scholarly attainments, whose 
courtesy is unfailing and whose integrity is above question. 



48 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

JOHN SANFORD TAYLOR. 

Prior to the great fire of 1S81; which destroyed the city of Seattle and 
yet gave rise to the grovvcli of a new center in the northwest, John San- 
ford Taylor took up his abode here. He is one of the upright and pro- 
gressive men that Scotland has supplied to the United States. He was 
born in the land of hills and heather on the i8th of February, 1830. and was 
brought to America by his parents when he was but a baby. When he was 
a youth of only nine years both his father and his mother died, lea\ing a fam- 
ily of five children, of which he is now the only survivor. XVhen left an 
orphan he went to live at the home of Allen McDermit, w ilh whom he re- 
mained until his twenty-first year, residing most of that time in Canada. 
The educational privileges which he enjoyed were very limited and he can 
be said to be a self-educated man, but is now a citizen of broad general 
knowledge because of his reading and his wide thought and research, as 
well as his observation. He began life on his own account in the lumber 
woods as a chopper and by the time he had attained the age of twenty- 
six years he was a superintendent of. a sawmill. Thus he had steadily 
worked his way upward. His mechanical skill in the work, his abil- 
ity in controlling business affairs and his marked enterprise won for 
him steady advancement. When t\\enty-six years of age he embarked 
in the manufacture of lumber, on his own account, at Saginaw, Mich- 
igan, and was thus employed for thirty years. From that place he removed 
to Duluth, Minnesota, where he built a large sawmill and was there en- 
gaged in lumber manufacturing for eight years. 

On the expiration of that time Mr. Taylor came on a pleasure trip 
to Seattle and was so well pleased with the country, its natural resources 
and its advantages that he returned to his former home, sold his property 
there and immediately afterward came to Seattle to reside, arriving here 
in 1889. He invested sixty-thousand dollars in property in this place, build- 
ing one sawmill and a planing mill, and purchased a portable sawmill, to- 
gether with the other necessary buildings and secured all the equipments 
needed for the construction of a large lumber business, but in 1895 there 
came a land slide, seventy-fi\e acres of land moved down to the lake in one 
body and washed away his large plant, together with sixteen dwelling 
houses. By this disaster he met with a very serious loss, but he still owns 
land and considerable other property. At present he is building a saw- 
mill at Rainier Beach, with a capacity of forty thousand feet of lumlier per 
day. It is fully equipped with a lath mill, shingle mill. etc. At the present 




, /), <^^ 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 49 

time he is living in a pleasant and commodious home, where he is sur- 
rounded with all of the comforts and many of the luxuries that go to make 
life worth living. 

In 1853 Mr. Taylor was united in marriage to Miss Jeanettc Louthian, 
a native of Canada who, like her husband, was of Scotch ancestry. Their 
union has been blessed with four children: William D., who is now a resi- 
dent of Seattle; David P., who is engaged in the lumber business at Daw- 
.son; Margaret, now the wife of M. R. Metcalf and a resident of St. Paul, 
Minnesota, and John S., wdio makes his home in Seattle. There are also 
eight grandchildren. For many years Mr. and Mrs. Taylor have been lead- 
ing and influential members of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which 
he is now a trustee, while for thirty-two years he has been superintendent 
of the Sunday-school and has also taken an active part in the important 
work of training the young to meet the moral obligations of life. He be- 
came a charter member of a council of the Royal Arcamtm upon its or- 
ganization at Saginaw, Michigan, and has since changed his membership to 
Rainier Council, No. 1399, in Seattle, of which he served as chaplain. He 
has made an excellent record as an honorable business man and he and his 
estimable wife enjoy the good will and confidence of all with whom they 
have been associated. From early boyhood he has had few advantages given 
to him. All that he is and all that he has acquired are the result of his own 
efforts, his remarkable ambition and his determination to progress in life, 
along moral, material and intellectual lines. His is a strong manhood, 
strong in its honor and good name and his life record may well serve as a 
source of inspiration and encouragement to others. 

CHARLES H. LILLY. 

The name of Lilly figures conspicuously in connection with the com- 
mercial history of Seattle, for our subject is the president and traesurer of 
the firm of Lilly, Bogardus & Company, incorporated, doing the largest 
wholesale business in the northwest in the purchase and sale of all kinds of 
cereals, flour, feed, seeds, poultry supplies and fertilizers. The business, 
which has now reached mammoth proportions, is largely the outcome of 
the enterprise and executive power of our subject, who began life amid un- 
fa voring circumstances upon an Illinois farm, but through his own unaided 
efforts has advanced to a position prominent among the leading representa- 
tives of commerce in this section of the countr}'. Of America is the self- 
made man a product, and the record of accomplishments in this individual 



so REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

sense is the record which the true and loyal American holds in deepest regard 
and higliest honor. In tracing the career of the subject of this review we 
are enabled to gain a recognition of this sort of a record and for this reason 
there is particular interest attaching to the points which mark his progress 
in life. 

Charles Hervey Lilly is a native of Illinois, his birth having occurred 
in Champaign county, on the 20th of January, i860. He is of Scotch an- 
cestrj^ on the paternal side and of Irish lineage on the maternal. His father, 
Robert Hervey Lilly, was born in Lexington, Kentucky, and married Miss 
Valeria Gordon, of Oswego, New York. He was an ordained minister of 
the Presbyterian church and an owner of farm lands in Illinois, where he 
had settled in 1842, becoming one of the well known and highly esteemed 
early residents of Champaign county. He departed this life in 1873, at the 
age of sixty-three years, leaving his widow and six children, of whom Charles 
H. Lilly, the eldest, was then but thirteen years of age. His large farm was 
hea\ily mortgaged and the widow and her son Charles made herculean ef- 
forts to pay for and save the property. Mr. Lilly assumed the management 
of the farm and from early morning until dewy eve worked in the fields, 
aided by the good counsel of his mother, who was a woman of superior busi- 
ness judgment. They struggled on under the debt for five years, the crops 
sometimes suffering from frosts, sometimes from excessive rains and again 
from drouth, but they succeeded in selling some of the farm and thus sav- 
ing one hundred and sixty acres of it. It was a discouraging experience 
for a boy to undergo, for all this happened between his thirteenth and eight- 
eenth years, but perhaps it worked for his good after all, developing in him 
a strength of character, self-reliance and manliness which have pro\-ed the 
foundations upon which he has builded the success of his later life. He suc- 
ceeded in paying the interest upon the farm mortgage and at the same time 
enabling the younger children to continue in school, and at length gained 
a clear title to one hundred and sixty-four acres of land and the farm build- 
ings, which the family continued to own until 1S90, when the property was 
sold. 

j\lr. Lilly also eventually managed to acquire a good education for 
himself by entering the State University of Illinois, in which he was grad- 
uated with the class of 1884, the degree of Bachelor of Science being con- 
ferred upon him. He then turned his attention to merchandising in Thom- 
asboro, his partner being Mr. Bogardus, with whom he is still associated in 
business. In the winter of 1885-6 he purchased his partner's interest and 
continued the business alone there for two years. During his residence there 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 51 

he was made postmaster of the httle town, but in 1889 he disposed of his 
interests in the east and came to Seattle. 

Since that time j\lr. Lilly has been closely associated with the interests 
of this city and his labors have placed him in the front ranks of business 
circles. From March until November he was engaged in street contracting 
and in hauling building materials. Mr. Bogardus, his former partner, had 
gone to California after selling his property in Illinois, but came from the 
Golden state to visit Mr. Lilly in Seattle. They looked the city over together, 
agreed that its possibilities were good, its future promising, and then formed 
a partnership, which has since been maintained. They first did teaming, and 
in 1889 established their present business in a small store with a paid-up 
capital of three thousand dollars. They gave their business the closest at- 
tention and it grew rapidly so that they were soon obliged to secure additional 
buildings in order to increase their warehouse room, until they had the 
largest grain and feed business of the northwest. In 1894 the firm was in- 
corporated, each member still owning a half interest. At the same time they 
opened a branch house at Whatcom and the business was incorporated under 
the name of Lilly, Bogardus & Bacon, continuing under that style for four 
years. At the end of that time the branch at Whatcom was discontinued, the 
partners deeming it best to concentrate their efforts at Seattle. In 1897, owing 
to the discovery of gold in the Klondike, the business received a fresh im- 
petus and increased still more rapidly, and in 1900 Judd M. Elliott, who had 
formerly been in the employ of the firm and had gone to Alaska, where he 
had been very successful in his search for gold, returned to Seattle and pur- 
chased one half of Mr. Bogardus' interest — the style of Lilly, Bogardus & 
Company, incorporated, being then assumed. Their efforts have not been 
confined alone to dealing in cereals, seeds, etc., for they are also the pro- 
prietors of the new North Coast Flouring Mills, of Seattle, and they have 
the largest and best arranged storehouses and warehouses and mill, all under 
one roof, to be found in the west. The dock which adjoins the large ware- 
house is one hundred and five by four hundred and sixty feet, and the wharf 
building is eighty by four hundred and sixty feet, and the largest building 
under a single roof in the city. The main brick edifice, which has been erected 
especially for their business, is one himdred and twenty-five by two hundred 
and six feet, is three stories in height and is supplied with all modern appli- 
ances and apparatus to accommodate and expedite business. Their new 
roller process flouring mill has a capacity of three hundred and fifty barrels 
per day and can be increased to five hundred barrels. The company are 
also agents for thirteen steamers called the Mosquito Fleet of Puget sound. 



52 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

Thus the efforts of the linn liave been extended into broader fields of labor. 
The partners are all men of good business ability and carry forward to suc- 
cessful completion whatever they undertake. 

In 1885 Mr. Lilly was happily married to Julia Putnam, of Champaign, 
Illinois, and their union has been blessed with four children, as follows: 
Henry Wilmot, Fanvell Piatt, Phebe E. and Marion F. The parents are 
members of the Presbyterian church and Mr. Lilly is a Knight Templar 
Mason and a member of the Mystic Shrine. He is also a member of the 
Modern Woodmen Camp, the National Union, the Chamber of Commerce 
and the ]\Ierchants' Association. He has attained a distinguished position in 
connection with the great industrial and commercial interests of the state 
and his efforts have been so discerningly directed along well defined lines 
that he seems to have realized at any one point of progress the full meas- 
ure of his possibilities for accomplishment at that point. A man of distinct 
and forceful individuality, of broad mentality and mature judgment, he 
has left and is leaving his impress upon the business world of Seattle and 
his enterprises add not alone to his individual prosperity, but also advance 
the general welfare and upbuilding of the city in which he makes his home. 

ALBERT S. KERRY. 

The prosperity of any community depends upon its business activity, and 
the enterprise manifest in commercial circles is the foundation upon which 
is builded the material welfare of town, state and nation. The most im- 
portant factors in public life at the present day are therefore the men who 
are in control of successful business interests and such a one is Albert S. 
Kerry, the well-known president of the Kerry Mill Company of Seattle and 
one of the most prominent and successful business men of that city. 

■ Mr. Kerry was born in Kingston, Canada, on the 15th of April, 1865, 
and is a worthy representative of a good old English family that for many 
years has been engaged in the milling business. His father, Aaron Kerry, 
emigrated from England to Canada in 1846, but for the past thirty-three 
years has made his home in Port Huron, Michigan. Throughout his active 
business life he was a carriage manufacturer, but now, at the age of sev- 
venty-four years, is living retired. He is held in the highest esteem by a 
large circle of friends and acquaintances, who appreciate his sterling worth. 
In politics he is a Democrat, and in religious faith is a Methodist. When a 
young man he was united in marriage to Miss Alatilda Wilson, who was 
born in the city of Toronto, Canada, of Scotch-Irish ancestry, and was the 



SEATTLE AND KIXG COUNTY. 53 

daughter of George D. Wilson. She departed this hfe in 1873. Of her 
eleven children nine are still living, and four of that number make their home 
in Washington, these being J. W., Almond, Arthur and Albert S. 

In the public schools of Michigan Albert S. Kerry acquired a good prac- 
tical education during his boyhood and youth, and since attaining his ma- 
jority has devoted his entire time and attention to the lumber business. In 
1886 he came to Seattle, Washington, and found employment in the sawmill 
of the Oregon Improvement Company as tallyman, and from 1887 until 
1894 had charge of their large sawmill. Mr. Kerry embarked in his pres- 
ent business in 1895, and two years later the Kerry Mill Company was in- 
corporated with him as president, in which official capacity he has since 
served. They have met with some misfortunes, their mill property being 
burned in 1897, at a loss of sixty-five thousand dollars, and altliough they 
at once rebuilt fire again destroyed their mill in July, 1901, this time their 
loss amounting to fifty-two thousand dollars, but they carried thirty-nine 
thousand dollars worth of insurance. Notwithstanding these disastrous 
events the company has steadily prospered and now has assets and timber 
lands amounting to two hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars. At the 
present writing they are building a larger and better mill in every respect. 
Aluch of the success of the enterprise is due to Mr. Kerry, who is a wide-awake, 
energetic and reliable business man, who is not discouraged by adversity and 
is veiy progressive. 

In 1889 he was happily united in marriage with Miss Mary Monroe, 
who was born in Saginaw, Michigan, and this union was blessed by a charm- 
ing little daughter, but at the birth of her baby Mrs. Kerry died, leaving 
a loving husband and many friends to mourn her loss, for she was a lady of 
many admirable qualities and was very popular socially. 

In his political views Mr. Kerry is a stalwart Republican. He is a 
prominent member of the Masonic fraternity, having taken all of the Scottish 
lite degrees up to and including the thirty-second. A man of keen perception, 
of unbounded enterprise, his success in life is due entirely to his ow'n efforts, 
and he deserves prominent mention among the leading and representative 
business men of his adopted city. 

CHARLES G. AUSTIN. 

Well known as an attorney of Seattle and ex-police justice of the city, 
Judge Austin has been prominently connected with the substantial improve- 
ment and upbuilding of the northwest along many lines that have contrib- 



54 REPRESENTATIVE CTITZEXS OF 

iiteil to the general good. He was one of the pioneers in the grain trade 
of this section of the country, but is now giving his attention ahnost exclu- 
sively to the demands of a constantly increasing law practice. A native of 
Ohio, he was born in Avon, Lorraine county, on the i8th of ]\Iarch, 1846, 
and is of English and German descent. His great-grandfather, Lewis Aus- 
tin, when a j'oung man emigrated from England and settled in the state of 
New York, becoming one of the early residents of Auburn. His son, Lewis 
Austin, the grandfather of our subject, was born in that city and was a soldier 
of the Revolutionary war, who fought for American independence. He 
afterward became an early settler of Avon, Ohio, where Jerome A. Austin, 
the father of the Judge was born, being the youngest of a family of eleven 
children. The grandfather and his family formed a part of the Black River 
colony that settled in Ohio about fifteen miles from Cleveland, first reclaiming 
the wild tract for the use of the white man. 

After arriving at years of maturity Jerome A. Austin was married to 
Miss Electa Teachout, a native of Germany, who was brought by her parents 
to the new world when but two years old, the family joining the Black River 
colony. The father was a minister of the Lutheran church and was sent 
as a missionary to the colony and became one of the pioneer preachers of 
that faith in Ohio. Unto the parents of Judge Austin were born six chil- 
dren. The father died on the 21st of May, 1898, at the age of eighty-two 
years, while his wife departed this life in her sixty-seventh year. One of 
the daughters is Mrs. E. A. Dodge, of Seattle, while Mrs. Alec M. Smith, 
another daughter, resides in Springer, Washington. Arthur A. is in Monte- 
video, Minnesota, and Mrs. Ada George is also living in that state. 

Judge Austin was educated in the public schools of Ohio and Wiscon- 
sin, but in answer to President Lincoln's call for volunteers to put down 
the spirit of rebellion in the south that threatened the destruction of the 
Union, he put aside his books, and in September, 1864, although only eight- 
een years of age, enlisted in Company G, First Minnesota Heavy Artillery. 
With his regiment he participated in the battles of Nashville, Chattanooga, 
Missionary Ridge and Lookout Mountain, and was afterward in the infantry 
service. Following the engagement at Dalton he was detailed to the ord- 
nance department of the Army of the Tennessee as clerk and served in that 
capacity until the close of the war, when he was honorably discharged at 
Nashville and was paid ofif at St. Paul, Minnesota. After his return home 
Judge Austin worked in a grain elevator and also took up the study of law 
under tlie direction of his uncle, William Teachout, being admitted to the bar 
in 1869. He had learned the milling business with his father, who was a 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 55 

mill owner, and was in the grain and milling business in :\Iinnesota until 1877, 
which was the year of Judge Austin's arrival in Washington. He first lo- 
cated in Walla Walla, where he was engaged in the grain trade for a short 
time and then removed to Almota, on Snake rixer, when he entered the flour 
and milling business. Subsequently he removed to Colfax and had charge 
of the collections of the Frank Brothers Implement Company for all the 
district east of the mountains. This brought him continually into the courts 
in the trial of cases in which the company was involved. In 1883 he removed 
to Pomeroy, Garfield county, where he was engaged in the grain business 
and also served as clerk of the courts for the first judicial district, filling 
that position until Grover Cleveland became president of the United States. 
He continued in the grain trade at that place until 1889, during which time 
he built up a very extensive business, having thirteen warehouses on the line 
of the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company, and handling most of the 
grain raised in that part of the country. He has the honor of being the first 
wheat buyer in the county. 

In the fall of 1889 Mr. Austin was elected a member of the first state 
senate of Washington, representing Garfield, Columbia and Asotin coun- 
ties. He was a member through two sessions and was chairman of the im- 
portant committee on tide lands. In 1890 Judge Austin came to Seattle and 
organized the Seattle & Terminal Railway Company and built the elevator 
m West Seattle, of w-hich he was the manager. He shipped the first cargo 
of grain from Seattle, sending it on the Mary L. Burrell. This brought 
the railroad to terms and gave to the city equal opportunities with Tacoma 
in the export business. Mr. Austin continued in the grain business until 
1896 and was the owner of a mill in Moscow. He thus became a promi- 
nent factor in the commercial interests of the northwest and contributed 
largely to the commercial prosperity upon which the growth and improve- 
ment of any sections largely depends. In the latter year, how-ever, he was 
again called to public office, being nominated and elected police judge 
of Seattle. He served for a term of two years and was also justice for a 
year and a half, capably discharging his duties, his impartiality and knowl- 
edge of the law rendering him an efficient officer. In January. 1901, he 
opened his law practice in partnership w^ith F. M. Jeffrey and is now prac- 
ticing, his clientage increasing constantly. His first presidential vote was 
cast for Abraham Lincoln. 

Judge Austin was- married on the 25th of December, 1873. to i\Iiss 
Emma L. Grow, a native of East Randolph, Vermont, and a daughter of 
Mason B. Grow, who was descended from an old family of the Green Moun- 



S6 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

lain state, prominent in its altairs. TiiCy now have four thiklren : Ward 
C, Jennie L., the wife of V. J. Ilahn, Herbert .\. and Jay C. The family 
have a pleasant home at No. 1323 Third avenue, west, and are members 
of the Episcopalian church, of which Judge Austin is serving as a vestry- 
man, while his wife also takes an active and helpful interest in church work. 
Socially the Judge is a Mason, having become a member of the fraternity in 
Islinnesota, and is a past master. He received the Royal Arch degree in 
Pomeroy Chapter, No. 10, R. A. M., and became a Sir Knight in Seattle 
CJommandery, No. 2, K. T. He is also a member of Alfifi Temple of the 
Mystic Shrine, in Tacoma. His life history is in some respects not unlike 
that of many other citizens of this land, where opportunity- is not hampered 
by caste or class. Quick to note and utilize an opportunity, earnest and dis- 
criminating in carrying out his plans, he has succeeded in the lines of work 
to which he has directed his energies and in the practice of law is also win- 
ning distinction. 

HERMAN B. BAGLEY, M. D. 

Dr. Herman Beardsly Bagley, now deceased, was one of the fir^■ 
homeopathic physicians and surgeons in the western part of the territory of 
Washington — having come to this section of the country long before the 
admission of the state into the Union. He was a graduate of the homeo- 
pathic college of Cleveland, Ohio, and of the Bellevue Hospital of New York 
and was elected professor of the principles and practices of sur9;ery in the 
Michigan Medical College at Lansing, Michigan. He and his father, who 
was also an eminent member of the medical fraternity, were instrumental in 
continuing the great struggle to obtain a chair of homeopathy in the Michi- 
gan State University at Ann Arbor and it was largely through their efforts 
rhat this desired result was at last obtained. Well equipped for the import- 
ant life work which he chose Dr. Bagley came to the northwest, a gradu- 
ate of both schools of medicine, thoroughly understood the great laws gov- 
erning the science and made a record as an eminent physician. 

The Doctor was born at Aubum, New York, on the 12th of March, 
1845, ^"^ was of English and Dutch ancestry. His grandfather, Herman 
Van Valkenberg, was descended from one of the noted Dutch families that 
first settled in New York, and was in his honor that Dr. Bagley was given his 
first name, Herman. The Doctor's father, Dr. Alvin Bagley, was bom in 
the Catskill mountains of New York and was a member of the same family 
to which Go\ernor Bagley of Michigan belonged. He became well known 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 57 

as a medical practitioner in New York, Ohio and Michigan, and in tlie year 
1872 arrived in Seattle, where he resided until his death, which occurred 
in 1885, when he was eighty-four years of age. His wife bore the maiden 
name of Jane Van Valkenberg. 

When Dr. Herman Beardsley Bagley was only five years of age the 
family removed to Marshall, Michigan, where he was reared to manhood. 
He began his medical studies under the direction and guidance of his father 
and was graduated in the Homeopathic Medical College of Cleveland, Ohio, 
with the class of 1868. The following year he took a post-graduate course 
in the Bellevue Hospital of New York and in 1872 was elected to the pro- 
fessorship of the principles and practices of surgery in the Michigan Med- 
ical College at Lansing, which position he acceptably filled until 1874. In 
that year he resigned because of ill health and desire to join his father at 
Seattle. 

Soon after his arrival Dr. Bagley became sufficiently well to resume the 
practice of his profession and almost immediately took high rank as a member 
of the medical fraternity and during the remainder of his active life he stood 
at the head of his school of medicine in what was then the territory and later 
the state of Washington. In 1889 '^^ '^^'^^ elected president of the King 
County Homeopathic Medical Society and in 1890 was chosen president of 
the Homeopathic Medical Society of the state of Washington. In May, 
1890, he was appointed a member of the state board of medical examiners 
and throughout his career here he was regarded by the profession and the 
public as one of the most eminent representatives of the homeopathic school 
in the northwest. In addition to his high attainments as a physician and 
surgeon the Doctor also possessed marked business ability and good judg- 
ment, so that he was very successful in his real-estate investments in the 
growing city, being one of the city's most active promoters. He was pos- 
sessed of generous and liberal impulses and was a ready contributor to 
every public enterprise that had for its object the improvement and advance- 
ment of the best interests of this place. He was the friend and was in 
touch with the best and most prominent men in Seattle — the men who 
shaped her destiny. He was associated with D. T. Denny, George Kinnear 
and E. M. Smithers in organizing an enterprise for connecting Lake Wash- 
ington with Lake Union by a canal and for some time he was the presi- 
dent of the Seattle Improvement Company. In 1888 when the Washington 
National Bank was organized he was made one of its directors and at one 
time he was also a member of the city council. His influence was felt in 
many important public movements that contributed to the substantial de- 
velopment and progress here. 



58 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

111 politics the Doctor was an ardent Republican, a loTcr of liberty and 
a despiser of oppression of any form. While in Ohio, before the great 
Civil war, his father's home was one of the stations on the famous under- 
ground railroad, whereby many a negro was befriended and aided as he 
was making his way to Canada, where he might obtain freedom from bond- 
age. In the practice of his profession Dr. Bagley showed forth his real 
nature, for he was exceedingly kind and devoted to the poor and needy and 
by his many acts of helpfulness and kindness he endeared himself to both 
rich and poor, and thus as citizen and professional man he enjoyed the con- 
fidence and esteem of all with whom he came in contact. 

In the year 1864 the Doctor was happily married to j\Iiss Catherine 
Minerva Sweet, a native of Battle Creek, Michigan, and a daughter of 
Daniel Sweet of that city, who was of English ancestry and belonged to 
an old New York family. In addition to his other investments the Doctor 
had become the owner of a fine farm of over six hundred acres of rich land 
at Renton, and there on an eminence overlooking the town of Renton and 
the Black River Valley he built a beautiful residence and there he and his 
wife liv'ed ver}' happily, surrounded by beautiful scenery and enjoying all 
the comforts that go to make life worth the living; but death entered this 
peaceful home, the Doctor being suddenly called to his final rest on the 8th 
of February, 1889. His loss was a sad bereavement to his devoted wife 
and to the whole community. Mrs. Bagley had entered heartily and with 
deep sympathy into all her husband's plans and had been a valued help- 
meet to him. Both were Episcopalians in religious faith, holding member- 
ship in the Trinity church of Seattle. Such had been the Doctor's suc- 
cess in business that he left his wife in possession of a very good fortune, 
but in 1892 a disastrous fire burned the beautiful residence to the ground. 

Mrs. Bagley in 1901 gave her hand in marriage to her present husband, 
Colonel Mitchell Glenn, a native of Newark, New Jersey, and a veteran of 
the Civil war, having volunteered on the 17th of April, 1861, as a mem- 
ber of Company I, Eighth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, with which com- 
mand he sen-ed until the close of the war. He and one of his brothers 
were in the Union army and they had three brothers in the Confederate 
army. By an act of great braver)' Colonel Glenn recaptured the flag of his 
regiment, but in so doing sustained a very severe wound in his hand, the scar 
of which he still carries, and for this and other acts of valor he was from 
time to time promoted until he rose from the ranks to become the colonel 
of his regiment. His war record is a brilliant one. but like many of the truly 
brave men who fought for the Union, he is very reticent concerning his army 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 59 

life and his achievements during the period of his mihtary service. After 
the war he became engaged in the manufacture of engines and boilers in 
Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he continued until his removal to the Pacific 
coast. He has always been a stanch believer in the principles of Democracy 
and while a resident of Minneapolis he held various oi^ces of honor and 
trust. He came within one hundred and thirty-seven votes of being elected 
mayor of the city on the Democratic ticket-, although it is well known that 
Minneapolis is a Republican stronghold. 

Colonel Glenn and his wife have just completed the erection of a splen- 
did home on the site of the one destroyed by fire, and in planning this have 
exhibited much taste, both in the exterior adornment and interior finish. It 
is one of the most delightful homes in the whole northwest countrj', not 
only because of the introduction of a cultured and refined taste, but also on 
account of the generous hospitality which is ever extended to their manj^ 
friends. 

JOHN TAYLOR. 

John Taylor, an honored veteran of the Civil war, who is now so effi- 
ciently serving as a member of. the city council of Seattle, Washington, was 
bom in Adams county, Ohio, on the 22nd of August, 1836. His ancestors 
came to America from England at an early day in the development of this 
country and settled in Virginia, and his great-grandfather Taylor was one 
of the men who fought so bravely for the freedom of the colonies in the 
Re\olutionary war. Jesse Taylor, our subject's grandfather, was born in 
Frederick county, Virginia, and in pioneer days removed to Adams county, 
Ohio, becoming one of the prominent and wealthy farmers of that locality. 
He died at the age of seventy-four years, leaving to each of his three chil- 
dren five hundred acres of land. 

His son, James W. Taylor, the father of our subject, was also a native 
of Frederick county, Virginia, born in 181 5, and at an early day accom- 
panied his father's family on their removal to Adams county, Ohio, where 
he grew to manhood. There he was united in marriage with Miss Cather- 
me Laney, who was from his native county, her father having also remo\-ed 
to Ohio with his family at an early day. Throughout his rxtive life James 
W. Taylor followed farming, and died at the age of seventy-two years. His 
wife had passed away in middle life. Both were devout Christians, hold- 
ing membership in the Methodist church, and assisted in building the Eben- 
ezer Methodist church near their old home in Ohio. In the family of this 
worthy couple were five children, three of whom are still living. 



6q representatre citizens of 

John Taylor, oldest of the surviving members of the family, was reared 
in his native county, educated in its public schools and engaged in stock- 
farming until after the Civil war broke out. Prompted by a spirit of patriot- 
ism, he enlisted on the 24th of October, 1861, as a private of Company H, 
Seventieth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantrj', but was afterward pro- 
moted to the rank of second lieutenant. During the hard fought battle of 
Shiloh he received a gunshot wound, which took from him his good right 
arm. Being unfitted for further service he was then honorably discharged 
on the 1st of November, 1862, after ha\ing served his country faithfully and 
well for over a year. 

Returning to his home in Adams county, Ohio, Mr. Taylor was elected 
sheriff of the county on the Republican ticket in 1863, and creditably filled 
that office for four years, after which he was engaged in mercantile business 
in West Union, the county seat of Adams county, until 1873, when he was 
again elected sheriff. He also served as master commissioner and deputy 
United States marshal, and acquired a w-ide and favorable reputation 
throughout his section of the state. He entered upon the duties of his office 
as sheriff in January, 1874, and this time served most acceptably for two 
years. 

In 1875 Mr. Taylor was united in marriage with Miss Clara S. Mullon, 
who was also born in Adams county and is a daughter of T. J. Mullon, a 
member of the bar of Brown county, Ohio. Unto them were bom three 
children, namely: Anna S., John L. and Louis Hicks. 

At the close of his second term as sheriff, Mr. Taylor resumed mer- 
chandising at West Union, and also served as postmaster of that place dur- 
ing President Arthur's administration. He continued in business there until 
1890, when he sold out and came to Seattle, Washington, arriving here on 
the 6th of January, that year. He at once became connected with James H. 
Wilson in the pension agency, but has now been alone in that business for 
some years. In 1894 he was appointed license inspector for the city and 
elected a member of the city council, to which office he has since been re- 
elected on three different occasions. He is now filling a four years' term, 
and is very active in promoting the best interests of the city of his adop- 
tion. He took a very prominent part in securing the municipal ownership 
of the splendid water system of Seattle, w^hereby the city now has an inex- 
haustible supply of pure mountain water, there being no better system in 
any city in the Union. For the past seven years !Mr. Taylor has been acti\ely 
identified with all the improvements that have made Seattle the delightful 
city which we to-day see. Politically he has been a life-long and ardent Re- 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 61 

publican, and fraternally is an honored member of the ]\Iasonic order, the 
Knights of Pythias, the Loyal Legion, and the Grand Army of the Republic. 
He has beai a very prominent and influential member of the post at Seattle 
since its organization, has taken an active part in all of its work and for the 
past five years has been chairman of the relief committee. Public-spirited 
and enterprising, he is recognized as a valued citizen of the community, and 
well merits the high regard in which he is universally held. 

FRANK H. RENICK. 

The rapid growth of Seattle in recent years, the introduction of vast 
and undaunted. John Hamilton Reiiick, the grandfather, removed from 
made a great demand for property and has enlisted in the real-estate field 
many business men of marked ability and keen discrimination. As a mem- 
ber of the firm of F. H. Renick & Company, his partner being John C. Wat- 
rous, Frank Hamilton Renick is successfully conducting real-estate opera- 
tions, placing investments and selling property. He is also doing a loan 
and insurance business and his efforts are bringing to him creditable pros- 
perity. 

A native of Hartford, Connecticut, he was born August 4. 1864, and 
is of English and Welsh ancestry, the family having been established in 
Pennsylvania at a very early period. Robert Renick, the great-grandfather, 
was a soldier in the war for independence and served through the IMad River 
campaign, in which he won the reputation of being an intrepid fighter, brave 
and undaunteid. John Hamilton Renick, the grandfather, removed from 
the Keystone state to Springfield, Ohio, and there took up government land, 
becoming one of the first settlers in that portion of the state. Subsequently 
he remoA-ed to Bellefontaine, Logan county, where he reared his family of 
seven children. He was a Presbyterian in his religious belief and a Whig 
in political faith in early life, but when that party ceased to have an exist- 
ence he joined the ranks of the new Republican party. His death occurred 
w'hen he was seventy-four years of age. 

James Henry Renick, his son and the father of our subject, was born 
in Huntsville, Ohio, in 1832, and when he had reached adult age he married 
Josephine Sophia Dunklee, a native of Plymouth. New Hampshire. She 
was of English descent, her ancestors having come to America during the 
colonial epoch in our country's history. J\Ir. and Mrs. Renick removed to 
Flartford, Connecticut, and later to Brooklyn, New York, where they re- 
mained until our subject was eight years of age, when they went to Port 



62 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

Huron, JNIichigan. Some years afterward tliey removed to Cleveland, Ohio, 
where the father died in 1874. He had for many years been prominently 
engaged in lumbering and had sold large amounts of lumber to the govern- 
ment, doing an extensive and prosperous business. In religious faith he was 
a Presbyterian, was an excellent citizen and an upright, reliable business man. 
His wife still survives and is now in the fifty-ninth year of her age. She 
resides in Detroit, Michigan. In the family were four children, three of 
whom are living: Grace is the wife of S. T. McGraw, of Detroit, Alich- 
igan, a member of a very prominent family of that city. Carrie has become 
the wife of Frank W. Osborne, a prominent citizen of Detroit and descended 
from one of its oldest families. 

In the schools of Concord, New Hampshire, and Buffalo, New York, 
Mr. Renick of this review pursued his education. For her second husband 
his mother married Egbert C. Bradford, the partner of her first husband. 
There was one child by that marriage, Walter G. Bradford. The family 
resided in Detroit and our subject attended the Bryant & Stratton Business 
College of that city, after which he became very active in the manufacture of 
lumber, also acquiring a practical and intimate knowledge of the business in 
all its departments from the purchase of the logs to the operation of the mills, 
the bookkeeping and the sales made. 

On the 13th of April, 1888, Mr. Renick arrived in Seattle with the 
intention of continuing in the lumber business, but an outlook over the busi- 
ness opportunities of the city decided him to turn his attention to real-estate 
dealing, in which he has since been successfully engaged. He was here 
during the great fire of 1889 and since that time has been an active factor 
in the rapid and substantial growth of the city, which emerged from the 
ashes to take its place as the queen city of the northwest. He passed through 
the financial panic successfully and has platted and sold several additions to 
the city. The business of the firm has grown constantly since its organize- 
tion and they have become investors for prominent eastern business men and 
have acquired a high reputation for ability and trustworthiness. 

In 1889 Mr. Renick was married to Miss Alice Caldwell, a native of 
California and a daughter of Dr. Robert G. Caldwell, now deceased. This 
union has been blessed with two children : Josephine Bradford and Grace 
Frances. The parents are valued and helpful members of the Baptist church. 
In politics Mr. Renick takes quite an active and influential part and is now 
treasurer of the Republican city central committee. He belongs to St. John 
Lodge, No. 9, F. & A. M. ; Seattle Chapter, No. 3, R. A. M., and is a mem- 
ber of the Order of Foresters. While an enterprising and active business 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 63 

man, he is also interested in scientific research and investigation, especially 
along the line of ornithology, and has made a large collection of the eggs 
of Washington birds. His study in this direction has resulted in furnishing 
to the United States valuable information on the subject and he was the 
means of correcting a mistake made in the Smithsonian Institute, proving 
to them that the eggs which were labeled those of the blaci-c swift were the 
eggs of the purple martin. His varied interests have made ]Mr. Renick a 
well rounded character. He is not so abnormally developed in any one direc- 
tion as to be called a genius, but his business life, supplemented by study 
and research, by political work and the pleasures of social life, have made 
his a strong manhood. His business reputation is unassailable and among 
his many friends he is popular because of his genial and courteous manner. 

JOHN H. CLOSSON. 

John H. Closson, of the drug firm of Closson & Kelly, of .Seattle, has 
been a resident of this city since April, 1889, and during all this time he has 
held the respect and esteem of all with whom he has come in contact. He 
claims Vermont as the state of his nativity, his birth there occurring on the 
14th of August, 1866, and he is descended frorn English ancestry, who for 
about six generations have resided in the United States. His fatlier"s mater- 
nal grandfather, Ichabod Safiford, served as a member of the Vermont mili- 
tia during the Revolutionary war. His great-grandfather Closson was a 
prominent divine, while his paternal grandfather followed the legal profes- 
sion as a life occupation, and his granduncle, H. \V. Closson, was a graduate of 
West Point and rendered his country valiant sen'ices as a soldier during the 
great Civil war. For generations the family have been identified with the Con- 
gregational church, and they have ever been people of the highest respectability 
and worth. The father of our subject, Gershom Closson, has for many 
years been numbered among the leading business men of Springfield, Ver- 
mont, and he has now reached the age of sixty-three years. He married Miss 
Lina Loveland, a native of the Empire state, and also a member of an old 
English family, who were among the early settlers of Connecticut. Her fa- 
ther was a prominent manufacturer. She had now reached the age of sixty 
years, and is the mother of two sons, the elder being Gershom, who is now 
preparing for the medical profession. 

John H. Closson received his primary education in the public schools 
of Springfield and Hartford, and when the time came for him to choose 
a life occupation he began learning the drug business in West Lebanon, New 



64 REPRESEXTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

Hampshire, while for four years lie was in Boston, two years of the time 
being spent in the city hospital and in the College of Pharmacy. After his 
arrival in Seattle he was employed by the large drug house of Stewart & 
Holmes until the 15th of December, 1890, when he opened business at his 
present location and with his present partner. His store is located at the 
corner of Occidental and Washington streets, where they carry a complete 
line of everything to be found in a first-class drug store. The business ca- 
reer of Mr. Closson is indeed creditable. Strong determination, persistence 
in the pursuit of an honorable purpose, unflagging energy and careful man- 
agement, — these are the salient features in his career, and his life stands in 
unmistakable evidence that success is not a matter of genius, as held by some, 
but the outcome of earnest and well directed effort. In his political views 
he is an unswerving Republican, and socially is a member of the Benevolent 
and Protective Order of Elks. 

The marriage of Mr. Closson was celebrated in 1894, when Miss Mil- 
dred Blair became his wife. She is a native of W'isconsin. They reside in a 
delightful home on Queen Ann Hill, and the household is noted for its 
charming hospitality, while its inmates have the warm regard of a large 
circle of friends. 

FRANK A. TWICHELL. 

In 1885 Frank A. Twichell became a resident of Seattle and by his 
life exemplifies the true western spirit of enterprise and progress. He was 
born in Washington county, Minnesota, on the 15th of November, i860. 
A family of English lineage of the name of Twichell was early established 
in New England and to that line our subject traces his ancestry. Soin 
Twichell, the grandfather of our subject, was born in New Hampshire 
in 1775, the opening year of the Revolutionary war. He became a well 
known and respected farmer of the "Old Granite State." His r.on, Ebene- 
zer C. Twichell, the father of our subject, was born at Pulaski, Oswego 
county, New York, in 181S and after arriving at years of maturity he 
married Miss Polly Twicliell, a native of his own county and descended 
from another branch of the family, so that she was a very distant relative. 
In 1850 they removed to Illinois and in 1854 became residents of Wash- 
ington county, Minnesota, where the father acquired the ownership of a 
large farm. He spent the remainder of his life there as an industrious and 
honorable citizen — one whose well spent life commanded for him the con- 
fidence and good will of many friends. An earnest Repuiilican in politics 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 65 

he never wavered in his allegiance to the party, yet he never sought or 
desired office for himself. He departed this hfe in 1887, at the age of sixty- 
nine years. His good wife survives him and now resides with Iier sons 
at Seattle, in the seventy-eighth year of her age, honored and respected 
by all who have the pleasure of her acquaintance. The family numbered 
eight children, five of whom reached years of maturity. The eldest son, 
Newton Twichell, at the age of eighteen years, volunteered for service in 
the Union army and was in numerous hard-fought battles. On one oc- 
casion he was wounded and as a result of his injury he died in 1864. 

Frank A. Twichell attended school in his native town and was also 
a student in the high school at Hastings, Minnesota. During the months 
of vacation he knew what it was to work hard upon the farm. He began 
earning his own livelihood as a teacher in the district schools and in early 
manhood also engaged in clerking in stores and to some degree mastered 
the carpenter's trade. For three years he was employed as a salesman in 
a grocery store, after which he accepted a similar position in a wall paper 
and notion store. Later he learned the trade of paper-hanging and decor- 
ating. 

Believing that the far west offered excellent opportunities because of 
its rapid growth, he determined to establish his home in Seattle and arrived 
in this city in 1885. For two )-ears he engaged in the wall-paper busi- 
ness and was then, in 1887, appointed deptity county auditor under Lyman 
Wood and was continued in the same position under W. R. Forest. On 
his retirement from the office in the fall of 1890 he received the unanimous 
nomination of the Republican county convention and was elected county 
auditor by a good majority. The duties of the office then included those 
which are now performed by both recorder and clerk of the board of King 
county commissioners; also those of the purchasing agent for King county 
public institutions. The clerical work of the office was so great that it 
demanded a force of from fifteen to forty men. He performed the various 
duties with such ability, superintending the work of the office with such 
fidelity that in 1892 he was again the unanimous choice of his party for 
re-election and received the largest majority of any candidate on the county 
ticket. He was also elected and for two terms ser\-ed as a member of the 
city council of Seattle, filling the office during the period of the re-organiza- 
tion of the city after the great fire. From 1894 until 1896 he was manager 
and part owner of the Cedar Mountain Coal Company. He then sold out 
and in 1897 went to Skagway, Alaska, as agent for the Oregon Improve- 
ment Company. In January, 1899, he became the general storekeeper for 



66 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

the Pacific Contract Company which constructed the White Pass Railwaj^ 
and upon the completion of the road he returned to Seattle. At that time 
he was given charge of the government work at Everett Harbor in the 
employ of the Seattle Bridge Company, this work being completed in April, 
1902. 

In Hastings, Minnesota, in 1884, Mr. Twicliell was united in marriage 
to Miss Estella M. Stanley, a daughter of William P. Stanley, and their 
marriage was blessed with one child, Marjorie A., who is now the wife of 
Walter Cuir. After fourteen years of happy married life jNIrs. Twichell 
was taken from her home by death in 1S98. Three years later in April, 
7901, Mr. Twitchell was again married, his second union being with Mrs. 
Nellie Johnson, a native of Petersboro, Ottawa, Canada. They have a pleas- 
ant home which Mr. Tv/ichell erected at No. 513 Thirtieth avenue south. 
He was a valued representative of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows 
in all of its branches and of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He 
is a past master workman and past grand master workman of the state 
of Washington and also past supreme representative. He belongs to the 
Degree of Honor, to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and in 
these various societies is a popular member because of his good fellowship 
and his fidelity to the teachings and principles of the fraternities. He was 
one of the delegates from Seattle to the Republican state convention held 
at Tacoma in 1902, and his influence is widely felt in political circles, as 
well as in various fraternities and in business life. He is a man of much 
knowledge, of high ability and of unquestioned integrity and he and his 
family have a warm circle of friends among the best citizens of Seattle. 
Many positions of trust and responsibility have been conferred upon him 
and in all he has discharged his duties in a manner that has gained him 
commendation, respect and confidence. 

ALVA C. SANDS. 

Alva C. Sands is the district manager of the Sunset Telephone and 
Telegraph Company, with headquarters at Seattle. He has resided in Wash- 
ington for the past eighteen years, having come here when it was still a ter- 
ritory, the year of his arrival being 1883. Mr. Sands is a native of Ohio, 
his birth having occurred on a farm near Cadiz, in Harrison county, on the 
ist of January, 185 1. He is of Scotch-Irish ancestry on the paternal side 
and Scotch on the maternal side. His paternal grandfather emigrated from 
countv Kildare, Ireland, and settled in the city of Philadelphia at a very 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 67 

early date in the development of that place. He was the progenitor of the 
family in America. His son, Robert Sands, the grandfather of our sub- 
ject, was born in Philadelphia, and became a farmer, following agricultural 
pursuits throughout his life. He was an old-school Presbyterian of the 
strictest kind and his life was ever in harmony with his religious belief. He 
died in 1879, at the age of eighty-four years. In his family were two sons 
and a daughter and one son is still living, namely, John Sands, a resident of 
Fairfield, Iowa, who is now eighty-one years of age. 

Edmund Thomas Sands, the father of our subject, was born in Wash- 
ington county, Pennsylvania, in 1822. He married JNIiss ^lary A. iMcFad- 
den, who was bom in Cadiz, Ohio. They were members of the United 
Presbyterian church and the father was a successful agriculturist, devoting 
his attention to the work of farming through many years. He was also very 
prominent and influential in public affairs and was one of the organizers 
of the Republican party in his part of the county. He loved liberty and de- 
spised oppression and in ante-bellum days was strongly opposed to the intro- 
duction of slavery into the land of the free. An upright, useful and influ- 
ential citizen, he commanded the respect and confidence of all with whom he 
came in contact. He died in 1880, at the age of fifty-eight years, and his 
wife, long surviving him, departed this life in April, 1900, at the age of 
seventy-six years, being then a resident of Tacoma, Washington, making 
her home with the subject of this review. By her marriage she had four 
children, three sons and a daughter, and the sons are yet living, namely : R. 
G., who resides in Whitmore county, Washington; B. M., a resident of Ta- 
coma. Washington; and Alva C. 

The last named was educated in the public schools of Iowa, whither the 
family had removed in 1855, the father having developed and improved a 
farm in that locality. During the summer months our subject aided in 
the work of the field and meadow, laboriously attending to the duties of 
farm life, while in the winter season he pursued his education in the common 
schools during a term of three months. He was also for one year a student 
in a school of De Witt, Iowa. He remained at home until he attained his 
majority, after which he became connected with the theater business as a 
manager, and in that capacity traveled all over the country, spending six 
years in that way. Returning then to the old farm in Iowa he made it his 
home until 1883, when he came to Washington, settling in Tacoma. Since 
that time he has been continuously connected with the telephone business 
c'.nd has held various positions, being promoted from time to time until he 
is now the manager of the largest telegraph office in the state, it being head- 



68 REPRESENTATIX'E CITIZENS OF 

quarters for tlie whole Puget Sound district, which inckides all west of the 
mountains and Yakima and Kittitas counties east of the mountains. Five 
hundred emplo3-es are found in the offices and Air. Sands has entire super- 
vision, being in charge of the work in all of the counties of the state. In 
the control of the extensive business which this implies he has developed 
excellent executive force, keen discernment and superior powers of man- 
agement. 

Mr. Sands has been twice married. In 1879 he wedded ]\liss Mary 
King, a native of Syracuse, New York, but after nine years of happy mar- 
ried life she was called to the home beyond, in 1886. In 1890 Mr. Sands 
was again married, his present wife having borne the maiden name of Miss 
Nellie Clayton. She was a native of Evansville, Indiana, and like her hus- 
band attends the Unitarian church. Mr. Sands belongs to the Ancient Order 
of United \Vorkmen and in his political affiliations is a Republican. Dur- 
ing his residence in the northwest he has built several homes in Tacoma and 
owns property in different places in Washington, thus judiciously investing 
his capital so that it returns to him a good income. He has the entire confi- 
dence of the corporation which he serves and is regarded as the right man 
in the right place in the position which he is so capably filling. 

MIOSES REDOUT MADDOCKS. 

!Moses Redout Aladdocks, a representative pioneer settler of the state 
of Washington, came to this territory in 1858. He was born in Bucksport, 
I\Iaine, on the 13th of November, 1833, and is of Welsh ancestry. His 
grandfather, Ezekiel Maddocks, was born in Wales and on crossing the At- 
lantic to the new world took up his abode in Massachusetts, but later came to 
the Pine Tree state, where his son, Ezekiel Maddocks, Jr., was born in 1789. 
Later he married Esther Blood, of English and Puritan ancestn,-, her people 
having located in New England at an early epoch in colonial history. The 
grandparents of our subject were members of the Congregational church. 
The grandfather died in the fifty-third year of his age, leaving a widow 
wuth four children, but she only survived him seven year and was laid to 
rest by his side in the cemetery at Bucksport, ]\Iaine. The old homestead 
there is still in the possession of their descendants. After the death of the 
parents, Abigail Maddocks, the eldest daughter, performed the duties of the 
liousehold and made a home for the younger members of the family, the 
sons operating the farm. Air. Aladdocks' father was the youngest member 
of the familv. He was onlv seven vears of age when his father died, while 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 69 

at the age of fourteen he was left an orphan. After the death of his mother 
he spent two years with his uncle, John Boyd Blood, continuing to work on 
the farm in the summer, while in the winter months he attended the dis- 
trict school. Desiring to attain a more advanced education he went to Bucks- 
port and for two years was a student in the seminary, working for his board 
in the Bucksport Hotel, attending the stock and also acting as chore boy on 
the place. In 185 1 he joined his brother, M. B. Maddocks, and engaged in 
fanning and lumbering near the town of Brewer, where he continued until 
the fall of 1856, when he became imbued with the desire to go west and see 
more of the country. 

Mr. Maddocks then started for Minnesota, traveling by rail from Port- 
land, Maine, to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. There he met two men by the 
name of Smith, who had formerly lived in Maine and who had come to the 
west on an errand similar to his own. They traveled together up Wolf 
river to Gill's Landing, where they purchased a team and then crossed the 
divide to the IMississippi river, proceeding on to St. Paul, and to St. An- 
thony, where Mr. Maddocks secured work in the timber and logging camps. 
In the spring of 1857, in partnership with two others, he purchased a port- 
able sawmill at the mouth of Rum river, where every prospect seemed pro- 
pitious, but shortly afterward the grasshopper plague swept through ]\Iinne- 
sota and destroyed crops and crippled their line of business. Mr. Maddocks 
continued his business under adverse circumstances until August and then 
came to the conclusion that he had not profited by his removal to the west, 
therefore he decided to sell out and return to his native state. He sold his 
business for what he could get and took his pay in western money, which he 
disposed of at a heavy discount. He then returned to Portland, ^Nlaine, after 
one year, though he had left with the intention of remaining for five years. 
Dreading the ridicule of his acquaintances he turned about and went to New 
York city to take passage for California. After writing a letter to his sis- 
ter, he started as a steerage passenger by way of the Isthmus of Panama 
and landed safely in San Francisco on the ist of October, 1857. He thence 
proceeded by steamer up the Sacramento river to the city of Sacramento and 
on by stage to Oroville, where he engaged in placer mining at eight dollars 
per day and board, sleeping on a rude bunk in the open air. He there con- 
tinued to work until the fall rains and high water made further mining im- 
possible. In partnership with two others he then purchased a claim and 
one mile of ditch, and there mined for several months, but meeting with poor 
success they sold out their ditch for irrigation purposes and abandoned the 
claim. He then decided to try some lumbering country and returned by way 



70 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

of Sacramento to San Francisco, proceeding thence to Humljoldt Bay, where 
he accepted a position in a sawmill at fort}' dollars per month, but hard times 
came on and lumber brought but little price, so that the mill was shut down 
after Mr. Maddocks had remained there but three months. 

Our subject again returned to San Francisco and and took passage on 
the steamer Columbia for Puget Sound, landing at Port Gamble in March, 
1858. There he found employment at good wages and after working for 
a short time received a contract for cutting logs to cover a period of one year, 
after which he purchased an ox team and continued logging for the company 
for six years. He not only made and saved money, but became one of the 
prominent and reliable citizens of the community. In the fall of 1S63 he 
was nominated by the Democratic party for the legislature and was elected; 
He then sold out his logging business to Amos Brown and served in the 
territorial legislature in the winter of 1863-4, being very active and zeal- 
ous in doing what he could to promote the best interests of the territor}'. 
He made a gratifying record as a valued member. 

In the spring of 1864 Mr. Maddocks came to Seattle, and in partner- 
ship with Amos Brown and John Condon, he built the Occidental Hotel, 
where the Seattle Hotel now stands. He owned a third interest and took 
charge of the erection of the building. They purchased :he location for 
fifteen hundred dollars and for about a year conducted the hotel together, 
after which Mr. I^Iaddocks sold his interest to John Collins, and purchased an 
interest in a drug business, in connection with Gordon Kellogg. This part- 
nership continued for about eighteen months, when Mr. Maddocks became 
sole proprietor and successfully conducted the enterprise for seventeen years, 
selling out in 1882, since which time he has been engaged only in caring for 
and superintending his property interests, having invested quite extensively 
in city and country real estate. He lost quite heavily in the great fire of June, 
1889, but before the smoking embers had died down, at the corner of Madi- 
son and Front streets, he had begun the erection of a new brick building, and 
thirty days later it was leased for a term of years, the rents for the first 
year paying for the building. He has been ver}-- fortunate in his investments. 
At one time he purchased a lot for five hundred dollars which recently sold 
for $70,000, and from the property he had received forty thousand dollars 
in rents. The lots on which he built his commodious residence, at the cor- 
ner of Fourth avenue and Cherry street, cost two hundred and fifty dollars. 
The property is now worth forty thousand dollars. He purchased four hun- 
dred acres of land on the While river bottom and all of this property he has 
sold at a good profit with the exception of a tract of seventy acres on which he 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 71 

has built a nice summer residence, and is now conducting a dairy, having 
twenty Durham and Jersey cows, with several good horses. The product 
of the dairy is sold to the Condensed Milk Factory and he finds relaxation 
there in superintending his fine ranch and splendid stock. Mr. Maddocks 
was married at Seattle, in 1866, to Miss Susie Williamson, of New York. 
She is a valued member of the Episcopal church apd Mr. Maddocks be- 
longs to the Masonic fraternity, having been made a Mason in Franklin 
lodge at Port Gamble, in 1862. His life has been one of untiring industry 
and activity, characterized by honorable dealings with his fellow men. 
Splendid success has crowned his efforts, yet his prosperity has been so 
justly won and so worthily used that the most envious cannot grudge him 
the same. He is to-day one of the most prominent men of the northwest 
and Seattle's histor}^ would be incomplete without the record of his life. 

WILLIAM GRANT HARTRANFT. 

It is a widely acknowledged fact that one of the most important works to 
which man can devote his energies is that of teaching, whether it be from 
the lecture platform, from the pulpit or from the school room. Such work 
tends to the elevation of man, prepares him for the duties and responsibili- 
ties of life and causes him to look upon life from a broader standpoint. Pro- 
fessor Hartranft has gained a prominent position in educational circles as a 
man of marked ability and to-day is serving as superintendent of schools 
in King county. He is a native of the state of Michigan, his birth having 
occurred in the city of Battle Creek, on the ist of December, 1866. He 
comes of German Quaker ancestry. His great-grandfather, Tobias Hartranft, 
emigrated to Pennsylvania in 1734 and was identified with the Society of 
Schwenkeld, a branch of the Quaker society having come to America in 
order to enjoy religious liberty. John F. Hartranft, a cousin of Professor 
Hartranft, served with much distinction in the great war of the Rebellion 
and for gallant and meritorious conduct was promoted to the rank of brig- 
adier general, while later he was elected governor of Pennsylvania, and the 
legislature of that state has erected a statue to his memory. He was one of 
the most prominent and influential citizens of the commonwealth and left 
the impress of his individuality upon its public policy and its substantial de- 
velopment. Daniel Hartranft, the father of Professor Hartranft, was bom 
in Pennsylvania and is now sixty years of age. He makes his home in Min- 
neapolis, Minnesota, retired from active business. He has been a life-long 
Republican and has exercised considerable influence in political affairs. He 



72 REPRESENTATIVE CmZEXS OF 

married Miss Effie Stetler, a native of Ohio, and a representative of an old 
eastern family that early established a home in the Buckeye state. Four sons 
and three daughters were born of this marriage and the mother dq)arted this 
life in the thirty-eighth year of her age. Two of the daughters, Mattie and 
Ethel, are now residents of Seattle, making their home with him whose name 
introduces this review. 

Professor Hartranft was educated in the public schools of Wisconsin. 
.■\t the age of seventeen years he entered upon what he has made his life 
work, the profession of teaching, being employed in the public schools of 
his native state until 1889, when he came to Washington. Here he accepted 
the position of principal of the school at Bucoda and was appointed on the 
board of teachers' examiners at Olympia. He taught at Port Orchard, while 
in 1893 he became principal of one of the city schools of Seattle. Under 
his careful guidance the school made rapid and satisfactory progress, many 
improvements being introduced. The people of King county manifested their 
confidence in him by electing him to the office of county superintendent of 
schools. He was a candidate for the position in 1898, but in that year was de- 
feated by a majority of ninety-seven out of a vote of thirteen thousand. Nearly 
the entire ticket suffered defeat, but he polled a much larger vote than was 
given to many of the candidates. Professor Hartranft was later appointed 
principal of the Queen Ann School in Seattle and in 1900 was again unani- 
mously nominated for the position of superintendent of schools of the county. 
He made a successful canvass throughout the county and at different 
places displayed the text books which had been adopted by the state 
board of education and which he believed were totally inadequate to the needs 
of a first-class educational system. The people recognized the correctness 
of his views and gave their endorsement thereto by electing him to 
the office by one of the largest majorities given to any candidate on the 
ticket. Professor Hartranft at once entered upon the duties of the office and 
with much energy undertook the work of improving the schools of the 
county. He visited the difterent schools and organized the county into 
five districts, in which teachers' associations are held once a month. There 
papers are read and addresses are delivered on methods of teaching and this 
plan is proving both beneficial and interesting and has contributed in a large 
measure to the progress of the schools. The Professor deserves the credit 
of having introduced this system into the west. His efforts against the text 
books have prevailed and those which were in use when he began his cam- 
paign ha\e been discarded throughout the whole state. Only words of com- 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 73 

inendation are lieard concerning tlie work of Professor Hartranit, whose zeal 
and interest in liis work inspires those who labor under him. 

In 1890 was celebrated the marriage of the Professor and Miss Mary 
Adams, an accomplished teacher and lady of superior intelligence and re- 
finement. She was bom in Wisconsin and is a daughter of James N. Adams, 
Avho at the time of his death was the nearest living relative of John Quincy 
Adams. Mrs. Hartranft was a teacher in the Ellsworth public schools, and 
both the Professor and his wife are members of the Plymouth Congrega- 
tional church. He also belongs to the Masonic fraternity and has taken alE 
of the degree of the Scottisli Rite up to and including the thirty-second. He 
is connected with the Woodmen of the World, and has been a stanch Repub- 
lican since attaining his majority. Both he and his wife occupy a very en- 
viable position in social circles where true worth and intelligence are received 
as the passports into good society. It would be almost tautological in this 
connection to enter into any series of statements as showing our subject tc> 
be a man of broad knowledge and scholarly attainments, for these have 
been shadowed forth between the lines of this review. Though a man of 
strong convictions and fearless in- their defense, he is always gracious and! 
considerate in advancing his views. He is a man of strong individuality,- 
keen mentality and of broad humanitarian spirit, whose interest in his fel- 
]o\v men is sincere, while his work is ever permeated by a desire to advance 
the cause of education, which is the bulwark and strength of this nation. 
During the year 1902 Professor Hartranft attracted attention as one of the 
leading instructors in the teachers' institutes of the state. 

VOLLY P. HART. 

Volly P. Hart, to whose life history w-e now^ direct attention, has by 
earnest endeavor attained a marked success in business affairs, has gained' 
the respect and confidence of mai and is recognized as one of the distinctiveh' 
representative citizens of Seattle. He is the general manager of the New 
York Life Insurance Company in Washington, and has tliat keen discrimina- 
tion and sagacity in business affairs which w-hen combined with energ}- and 
industry lead to success. 

Mr. Hart is a native son of the Blue Grass state, his birth occurring at 
Hartford, Ohio county, Kentucky, in December, 1855, and he is of Englisli 
and Scotch descent. His ancestors were among the early pioneers of Vir- 
ginia, and in a very early day the paternal grandfather of our subject located 
in Kentuckv. wliere the father, jolm K. Hart, was born. He was there 



74 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

married to Elizabeth Woodward, whose ancestors were also from Virginia 
and Kentucky. When our subject was but two years of age his father was 
shot, being mistaken for another man, and thus a truly noble life was sacri- 
ficed and a wife and two little sons were l)ereft of a loving husband and 
father. His widow survived until the age of lifty-three years and the eldest 
son, John K., died in Los Angeles, California. 

Vollv P. Hart was reared and received his education in his southern 
home, and when the time came for him to engage in the active battle of life 
on his own responsibility he entered the employ of a railroad company, 
eventually attaining to the position of conductor. For a number of years 
he was with the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad, and for a few years there- 
after was an employe of the Missouri Pacific Company, at the expiration of 
which period he was caught in a wreck, thus being incapacitated from further 
railroad service. Since arriving at mature years he had given a stanch sup- 
port to Democratic principles, and was elected by his party comptroller of the 
city of Sedalia, Missouri. On the expiration of his second term in th:!t 
office he was appointed by President Cleveland as postmaster of that city, 
and served during the remainder of the- latter's administration. The year 
1898 witnessed the arrival of Mr. Hart at Seattle, and since that time he 
has filled the position of general manager of the Xew York Life Insurance 
Company, his territory covering- the state of Washington. His systematic 
business methods, his sound judgment, his enterprise and his laudable ambi- 
tion have all contributed to make his business career a prosperous one, and 
.'iince assuming his present relations the business of the company has in- 
creased threefold. 

The marriage of Mr. Hart occurred in 1880, when Miss Kate R. Varey 
became his wife. She is a native of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and a descendant 
of one of America's most distinguished families, being a relative of ex-United 
States Senator Charles Sumner and of Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase. The 
union has been blessed with four children, — Lela, Marion, Jvate and Payton. 
Mr. Hart is a member of the order of Railway Conductors and of the Knights 
of Pythias. He enjoys the liigh regard of his fellow men in all the walks 
of life, and is widely and favorably known in Seattle and King county. 

ROLLIN VALENTINE .\XKEXY. 

In financial circles of Seattle, Rollin Valentine Ankeny is viell known, 
for he is now acceptably filling the position of cashier in the Puget Sound 
National Bank. Me was born in iMTcpiM-t. Illinois, on the ist of Septem- 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 75 

ber, 1865, and comes oi French and German ancestry. Tlie Ankeny family 
was early established in Washington county, Maryland, and representa- 
tives of the name were conspicuous in connection with events which mark 
the history of Maryland in pioneer times and during the period of the Rev- 
olution. Evvalt Ankeny, the great-great-grandfather of our subject, joined 
the Colonial forces at the time when the Colonies threw off the yoke of 
British oppression and became captain of the Fifth Company of the Bedford 
county. Virginia, militia. He served throughout the war and his efforts 
were of value in promoting the cause of his country. Peler Ankeny, the 
great-grandfather of our subject, was a citizen of Maryland in early life 
but became one of the pioneer settlers of Ohio, while Joseph, the grand- 
father, was born in the Buckeye state and later became a factor in its busi- 
ness affairs, carrying on merchandising there. His son, Rollin V. Ankeny. 
Sr., was born in Somerset county, Pennsylvania, in 1830, and for many 
years was engaged in the drug business but is now retired from active busi- 
ness and makes his home in Des Moines, Iowa. He married Sarah Irving, 
a lady of Scotch ancestry, and unto them were born five children liut only 
two are now living, and the mother has also passed away. 

I\Ir. Ankeny of this review was educated in Des Moines, Iowa, where 
his parents removed during his early youth. He also entered upon his busi- 
ness career there as collection clerk in the Citizens National Bank and was 
associated with that financial institution for five years, during which time 
his close application, his ability and his fidelity won him promotion and 
when he severed his connection with the bank he was filling the position of 
bookkeeper. In 1888 he came to Seattle to accept a position in the Puget 
Sound National Bank, and since that time he has assisted in the conduct of 
the affairs of this institution, filling all positions up to and including that 
of cashier. He is now acceptably serving in the last named capacity, his 
incumbency continuing for more than six years. In 1895 the bank was cap- 
italized for six hundred thousand dollars and it does a very large business. 
All of the officers, from Jacob Furth, the president, down, are considered 
l^eople of the highest ability, known as financiers of worth and regarded as 
reliable business men throughout the city. Mr. Ankeny devotes his entire 
energies to the duties of the office. Always courteous and considerate with 
]iatrons of the bank, he is at the same time ever alive to the interests of the 
institution which he represents and his labors have contributed not a little to 
its splendid reputation. 

In 1890 was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Ankeny and Miss Eleanor 
Randolph, a native of Des Moines, Iowa, and a daughter of Jacob Ran- 



76 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OE 

dolph of that cit_\'. Jlic)- imw Ikuc t)ne son, Irvine. Tlieir attractis'e lionie 
is situated at No. 812 Second avenue, west, and its characteristic hospi- 
tahty is enjoyed by tlieir large circle of friends. Mr. Ankeny votes with 
the Republican party and socially is connected with the Elks and the Ma- 
sonic fraternities. Throughout his entire business career he has been iden- 
tified with banking and is thoroughly familiar with this important depart- 
ment of business in ex'ery particular. He occujiies an unassailable position 
in financial circles at Seattle and the city nuni!)crs him anmng the \alued 
additions to its business ranks. 

ja:\ies r. hayden. 

James Rudolph Hayden, cashier of the People's Savings Bank, is one 
of the state's best known and highly esteemed citizens. He has resided in 
Seattle for more than twenty years, making a most cretlitable record as a 
thoroughly reliable and successful business man. His course has ever been 
deserving of conimendaion, for not only is he tru.stworthy in business, hut 
as a public official he has manifested his fidelit}- to the public trusts and \vlien 
liis country was in\olved in ci\il war he was found among the loyal defenders 
of the Union upon southern battle-fields. 

Mr. Hayden was born in Oswego county. New York, Eel)ruar\- jj, 
1837, and is of Irish lineage. His father, lames R. Hayden, was born in 
Dublin, and in his native city was married to Miss Alesia Connoly. In the 
year 1835 he severed the ties that bound him to his native land and sailed for 
the new world, locating first in Canada, but after a short time taking up his 
residence in Oswego county, New York. The mother of our subject died 
when he was only three years old, and it was also his misfortune to lose his 
father by death when he was but six years old. He was then reared until his 
tourteenth year by a family named Fagan, who removed to Chicago, Illinois, 
m 1850. There he was sent to school and afterward was employed in die 
gallery of -Mr. Straw, a celebrated photographer ot that city, in whose studio 
lie was working when the great Civil war burst upon the country. In answer 
to President Lincoln's call for \olunteers to put down the great rebellion 
he enlisted on the 14th of .April, and served in the state forces until the i6th 
of June, when he joined Company A, Nineteenth Illinois Volunteer Infantr}'. 
with which he served in Missouri, Kentucky. Alabama, Georgia and Ten- 
nessee. The first important battle in which he participated was at Stone 
river, and later he met the enemy in the engagements at Chattanooga, Resaca, 
Missionary Ridge and Keiiesaw Mountain. He was with General Sherman 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. n 

in the .Vtlanta canipaign and at all times was I'our.d at his post of duty, laith- 
ful to the cause which he espoused. In the engagement at Missionary Ridge 
he was hit in the belt by a ball which knocked the breath out of him, and he 
had other \-ery narrow escapes, but was ne\er seriously injured. W'iiile in 
service in Chicago he was a member of Colonel Ellsworth's Zoua\es and was 
recommended by many of the members of his regiment for the office of 
colonel, but served instead as a stafif and ordnance officer. In Marcli. 1870. 
lie vvas presented with a magnificent watch by the Chicago Zouaves. 

After being mustered out I\lr. Hayden returned to Chicago and filled 
the position of supervisor of West Chicago for two years, while for several 
years he was deputy sheriff. In 1870 he was appointed by President Grant 
to the position of assessor of internal revenue for Washington and served in 
that capacity from 1876 until 1884. He was afterward appointed receiver 
in the Washington land office, with headquarters at Olympia, and tilled that 
position for th.ree years, after which lie was for a time in the insurance :md 
real-estate business. In 1885 lie was appointed receiver of the land office at 
Seattle, and entered upon the duties of the position just six days before the 
great fire which devastated the city. His tenure of that office continued until 
August, 1890, and then on his retirement from that position he aided in or- 
ganizing the People's Savings Bank, of Seattle, since which time he has been 
its cashier and manager. Under his able conduct the business of the bank has 
continually increased and each year the institution has been able to declare 
good di\-idends, showing that the business is conducted profitably. It is 
now numbered among the solid financial institutions in this part of the state. 

In 1863 Mr. Hayden was united in marriage to Miss Amelia Daul, a 
natives of New York city, and unto them have been born seven children, of 
whom four are yet living The elder son, John L., is a graduate of the 
West Point Military Academ.y, and is now a captain of United States Ar- 
tiller}^ James Rudolph is now in Alaska. The elder daughter is Mrs. 
Wellington Park, of Walla Walla, and the younger daughter, Alesia Ada- 
line Louisa, is at home with her parents. Mr. Hayden has erected a de- 
lightful residence on one of the beautiful sites of vSeattle, and the family 
enjoy the highest regard of all with wdiom they have been associated. He 
is a prominent member of the Grand Arm) of the Republic and was senior 
vice commander in Chicago, and in Olympia past commander of George 
H. Thomas Post. He is also a past commander of the military order of 
the Loyal Legion for the skile of Washington, and takes an active interest 
in everything pertaining to military affairs. He was made a Master Mason 
in Chicago, in 1868, was past master of Olympia Lodge and deputy grand 



78 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

master in 1874. also grand master of the territory of Washington in 1875, 
He is a past iiigii priest of Olympia Chapter, No. 7, R. A. M., and has 
attained the tliirty-third degree of the Scottish rite, being the only active thir- 
ty-third brother in the state of Washington and Alaska. He has been the active 
rhirty-third of the Southern jurisdiction of the United States since 1883. 
He is undoubtedly the most eminent representative of the order in this state, 
thoroughly familiar with the work of the craft in all its departments and 
promotes the cause materially through his we!! directed efforts in its Ijehalf. 
He is also a member of the Ancient Order of United Workni.en and has been 
a lifelong Republican, never swerving in his allegiarice to the party which 
he believes contains the best elements of good government. From 1891 to 
1895 he was a member and the president of the board of regents of the State 
University and it was during his incumbency that the buildings were erected. 
His life has been varied in service, constant in honor, fearless in conduct and 
stainless in reputation, and his career lias been one of activity, full of incidents 
and results. 

FRED E. SANDER. 

Air. Sauiler has been actixely and extensixely connected with railroad 
building in the northwest. Through this means he lias assisted in opening 
up to civilization a vast region with unlimited resources, providing for every 
kind of labor, giving homes to the miner, the farmer and the commercial 
man. The advent of raih'oads has marked advancing civilization in all coun- 
tries, and has been the means of uniting the different portions of America, 
making it an inseparable union. The labors of Mr. Sanders have therefore 
i)een of such a character that his efforts ha\c benefited the public as well as 
advanced his individual prosperity. 

From his boyhood up to tlie time he came to Seattle he was a sailor. 
The y-ear 1880 witnessed his arrival in tliis city, where lie first engaged in 
bookkeeping. In the meantime lie read law under the direction of the Hon. 
William H. White, now supreme judge of the state. He also began to 
invest in city real estate ami a little later became interested in the building 
of street railroads. He built the Yessler avenue cable line, which he owned for 
a number of years, and also constructed the Grant street electric line. He was 
one of ten who built the Front street line, and one of those who built the 
James street lines, and was the original mover in the entei^prise of building 
a line between Seattle and Tacoma. He is still cxtcn'^i\ely engaged in rail- 
road enterprises. Since 1883 his ol^ce has been located at tlie southeast cor- 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 79 

iier of Yessler Way and First avenue south. Here he was burned out in 
the great conflagration of 1889 and met with a large loss, hut immediately 
he resumed business at the old place. He has made a number of additions to 
the city of Seattle, and in connection with others has done much Ijuilding. 
He is still engaged in the erection of public buildings and private residences, 
also in otherwise improving the city. For years his attention has l>een 
chiefly devoted to real-estate dealing and to railroad construction, and his 
efforts along these lines have become of great volume and importance. 

CALVIN E. VILAS. 

Among the best citizens of Seattle, esteemed alike for his sterling worth 
of character and his activity in the business world, is Calvin E. Vilas, the 
vice-president and manager of the Washington National Building. Loan & 
Investment Association, of Seattle. He is a native of Ogdensburg, New 
York, where he was born on the 4tli of November. 1856, and is of old English 
ancestry. His descendants were among the early settlers of New Hampshire, 
and there his grandfather, Nathaniel Vilas, was born. He served as a sol- 
dier in the war of 181 2, and was afterward a pensioner of that war. He 
was a prominent manufacturer and also postmaster of his town, where he 
attained to the ripe old age of eighty-three years. 

Erastus Vilas, his son and the father of our subject, was born in Ant- 
\verp, Jefferson county. New York, in 1824, and now resides in Ogdensburg, 
that state, at the age of seventy-four years. He married Miss Emma Lake, 
a native of Chautauc[ua county, New York. Throughout his active business 
career he has been a manufacturer of and dealer in leather, and has long been 
recognized as one of the leading citizens of his town, in which he has held 
many positions of honor and trust. For many years he was a member of the 
board of education, was at one time a water commissioner, and has been the 
recipient of many other honors within the gift of his fellow townsmen. He 
is a prominent and worthy member of the Baptist church, and since the form- 
ation of the Republican party has been an active worker in its ranks. Mrs. 
Vilas was called to the home beyond in 18S3, at the age of fifty-one years, 
and she, too, was a devoted Christian, and was a faithful and devoted wife 
and mother. Two sons were Ijorn unto Mr. and .Mrs. ^'i!as. the brother of 
our subject being George B., now a freight agent for the Northwestern Rail- 
road at Milwaukee. 

Calvin E. Vilas received his elementary education in the public schools 
of his native place, and later supplemonted the knowledge there gained by 



8o REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

;i course in tlie State Normal School, in St. Lawrence county, New York. 
l!is business training- was received under the careful direction of his father, 
and he continued to devote his attention to the leather business until 1890, 
in which year he came to Seattle, and has since 1>een identified with the best 
interests of this city. He is engaged principally in loaning money and is also 
the vice-president and manager of the Washington National Building, Loan 
& Investment Association. Throughout his residence here he has taken a deep 
interest in everything pertaining to the welfare of the community, and is 
a progressive and public-spirited citizen who gives a loyal support to all 
measures for the public good. 

Mr. Vilas was happily mai^ricd in 1882, when Miss Jennie L. ^'ilas. his 
third cousin, became his wife, and they have had two children, but the little 
son died at the age of se\en and a half years. The surviving child is Helen 
L. The family reside in a beautiful home in Seattle, where they extend 
a gracious hospitality to their many friends. Throughout the years of his 
manhood Mr. Vilas has given his political support to the Republican party, 
and while a resident of St. Lawrence county. New York, he held the ofifice of 
supervisor, and was also city clerk of Ogdensburg, the place of his birth. 
He is an active and valued meml>er of St. Mark's Episcopal church and in all 
the relations of life he has won the high regard of his fellow citizens. 

CHARLES BAKER. 

Forty years have passed since Charles Baker took up his residence in 
Seattle. When he arrived here he found a very small town, giving little prom- 
ise of rapid future development, yet it had natural advantages which Mr. 
Baker recognized and he therefore believed that he would take a wise step 
by casting in his fortunes with the new and growing town. Through all 
these years he has been interested in eveiy measure for the general good 
;uid has been a wide awake and progressive citizen, who from pioneer times 
down to the present has labored earnestly and effectively for the advance- 
ment of the northwest. 

Mr. Baker is a native of Cleveland, Ohio, his birth having occurred 
there on the i8th of November, 1840. He is of English ancestiy and his 
parents were John O. and Charlotte Helen (Hopewell) Baker, the former 
a native of Portsmouth and the latter of London, England. They emi- 
grated to the L^nited States when young people and located at Cleveland. 
Ohio, where they were married. He devoted his energies lo the practice of 
medicine and surgery, as a repre.sentativc of the regular school, being 




.-^^^L^^^.^--^ /^^:k^6L^ 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 8i 

first located at St. Stephens, New Brunswick, and later a member of the 
medical profession at Collis, Robbinston and East Machias, Maine. In 1875 
he came to the northwest, locating- in Seattle and for twelve years was a 
prominent member of the medical fraternity of this place, continuing as 
an active practitioner up to tiie time of his death, which occurred in Octo- 
ber, 1887. He was in the sixty-seventh year of his age. He was very 
devoted to his profession and attained eminence in his chosen calling, both 
because of his remarkable ability in the diagnosing of diseases, and rdso because 
of his skill in applying correct remedies and in the use of surgical imple- 
ments. He was a gentleman of broad humanitarian principles atid his deep 
human sympathy made it a pleasure to him to carry on his professional 
work and alleviate the suffering of his fellow men. He never stopped to 
consider whether his patients were poor or rich but gave his services to 
the former as to the latter and many a family had reason to bless him for 
his helpfulness in the hour of need. His wife departed this life some time 
previous to the death of her husband, being forty-three years of age when 
called to her final rest. Both were members of the Episcopal church and 
their Christian faith was exemplified in their noble and helpful lives. They 
were the parents of a son and daughter, but Charles is now the only sur- 
viving member of the family. He was called Charles John Frederick 
Beverly, in honor of friends who bore those names, but IMr. Baker says he 
never finds time to write all of the lengthy name and has dropped each one 
of the Christian names except that of Charles. He obtained his early edu- 
cation in the \\'ashington Academy of ]\larine and when fourteen years 
of age went to sea, following the life of a sailor for nearly seven years, 
during which time he visited many of the ports of the civilized world and 
gained broad and interesting knowledge concerning foreign lands and the 
ananners and customs of various peoples. 

In December, 1862, when not quite twenty-one years of age, Mr. Baker 
arrived at Seattle, becoming engaged in the luml^er business, getting out 
logs for various saw mills. He afterward went to Cariboo. British 
Columbia, at the time of the mining excitement there, bur has spent the 
greater part of his life since attaining to his majority in th.e Fuget Sotmd 
coimtry. For a number of years he was engaged in the grocery Ijusiness 
ar Lowell in Snohomish county, successfully conducting his enterprise 
until 1880, when he sold his business there and established a grocery .store 
in north Seattle. Here he prospered from the beginning and continued 
in the business for fourteen years or until 1894. when he sold out and re- 
tired from active business. He is now enjoying a well merited and well 



82 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

earned rest. In later years lie has built a commodious dwelling at 2344 
East Lake a\enue and had made other investments in Seattle city property 
which have returned him a good income. 

On the 8th of February, 1871, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. 
Baker and Miss Emma Seavey, of East Machias, Maine, a daughter of 
Sylvanus and Cynthia Seavey, both of whom were of English ancestiy, 
but several generations have resided in this country and representatives of 
the family were participants in events which form the early historv of Amer- 
ica and in the Revolutionary war. Her father attained to the ripe old age 
of 'eighty-five years and his wife reached the extreme old age of ninetv- 
one years. They were honest and industrious farming people and followers 
of the Christian religion. 'Slv. and Mrs. Baker have had six chil<lren : Ed- 
-\vard H., who was born in Seattle; Charlotte H., whose birth occurred in 
Snohomish; Cynthia Elma, who was bom in the same place and is now 
the wife of R. G. McCausland; and Julia, who is attending the citv high 
school. Two sons are now deceased: Charles, born Februarv 8, 1873, 
died March 25, 1877; Albert, who died December g, 1879. The family 
attend ser\'ices at the Congregational clnurh and members of the house- 
hold have the highest respect of the best citizens of Seattle. Mr. Baker 
has been a life-long and stanch Republican and in 1902 was the candidate 
of his party for the office of supervisor of King county. He is a member 
of the Masonic fraternity, having received the sublime degree of a Master 
Mason of Warren Lodge, No. 2, F. and A. M., of East Machias, ^Laine. 
He now holds membership with the Eureka Lodge, No. 20, F. and A. M. 
of Seattle. His record is that of a man who through earnest and honor- 
able endeavor in business life attains success and also achieves a character 
that is above reproach. 

ANDREW CHILBERG. 

Andrew Chilberg. president of the Scandinavian-.Vmerican ]>ank of Se- 
attle, Washington, is one of the leading bankers of the city and rapidly work- 
ing his way to a foremost position among the prominent financiers of the 
state. He has made an enviable reptitation in business circles and occupies 
a position of no little prominence in connection with public affairs, although 
he has never sought political preferment. Flis life demonstrates what may be 
accomplished through energy, careful management, keen foresight, and the 
utilization of the powers with which nature has endowed one, and the oppor- 
tunities with which the times surround him. 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 83 

Mr. Chilberg was born in Swedtn ]\Iarch 29, 1845, L>"t was only a year 
old when brought to America by liis parents, Charles John and Hannah 
(Johnson) Chilberg, who were also born in that country of Swedish ancestry. 
They were farming people and members of the Lutheran church. Li 1846 
the parents, accompanied by their four children, James P., Nelson, Isaac and 
Andrew, took passage on a sailing vessel bound lor the new world and were 
eleven weeks in crossing the Atlantic. They located on a farm southwest 
of Ottumwa, Iowa, where the father pre-empted and homesteaded lands, and 
there he successfully engaged in farming for many years. Other children 
were added to the family, these being Benjamin A., Joseph, Charles l'". and 
John H., but Charles F. died m the thirty-second year of his age. The 
father is now ninety years of age and the mother died July 3. 1902. In 1S82 
this worthy couple celebrated their golden wedding, and they traveled 
life's journey together for the remarkable period of seventy years, sharing 
with each other its jo}-s and sorrows, its adversity and prospeity. In 1872 
they came to Seattle and the fatiier now resides at La Conner, honored and 
respected by all who know him. 

Andrew Chilberg- was principally reared near Ottumwa, Iowa, and is 
indebted to the schools of that city for his educational privileges. In i860, 
at the age of fifteen years, he went with his father and brother Nelson to 
Pike's Peak during the gold excitement in that locality. .There our subject 
worked on a farm while his father and brother engaged in prospecting and 
mining until the winter of 1863. when they returned to Iowa. 

The following spring Andrew Chilberg crossed the plains to California, 
driving horses, for which service he was boarded and permitted to go with 
the company. During that arduous journey he acquired indigestion from 
the poor food he was gi\eii, and from its effects he has never fully recovered. 
His fine constitution is all that has carried him through. The company 
\vith which he traveled was four months on the road from Omaha to Sacra- 
mento. His brother James P. had preceded him to California and was farm- 
ing in Yolo county, and for some time our subject worked lor him and other 
farmers, at twenty-five dollars per month. Pie subsequently went to Stock- 
ton, where he worked in a large nursery for sometime, and also attended 
school at that place. 

Owing to ill health Mr. Chilberg finally returned lu Iowa by way nf the 
Nicaragua route and New York city, and again attended school in Ottumwa. 
Subsequently he engaged in teaching school for three years, and also clerked 
in a wholesale and retail dry goods house in Ottumwa for four years. In 
1874, at Ottumwa, he \\.;s united in marriage wilh Miss Mary, daughter of 



84 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

John and Hannah (Svvenson) Nelson, now both deceased, and born at Bishop 
Hill, Illinois. The following year they ca:i.ie to Seattle, Washington. In 
the fall of 1875 he embarked in the grocery business with his brothers, James 
P. and Nelson, and togetl:er they conducted the store until 1882, when he 
sold his interest to his brothers, iiaving been elected assessor of King county 
on the Democratic ticket. 

Mr. Chilberg creditably filled that ofike for two years. While engaged 
in the grocery business he has been appointed by the Swedish government 
vice-consul for Sweden and Norway, .and has since satisfactorily filled that 
position. He was also a member of the city council two years, and in 1884 
was appointed city treasurer, in which capacity he also served two years. 
In 1885 he was appointed city passenger and ticket agent for the Northern 
Pacific Railway, and held that position until 1892, when he resigned to accept 
the presidency of the Scandinavian American Bank, of which he was one of 
the organizers. This bank was opened for business on the ist of May, 1892, 
with a paid-up capital of forty-five thousand dollars, which was increased 
in 1901 to one hundred thousand dollars, while its deposits now amount to 
over two million dollars. In the past nine years it has had an unparalleled 
growth and is to-day one of the sound financial institutions of the state. 
Much of its success is due to Mr. Chilberg, the safe and conservative policy 
which he inaugurated having conimended itself to the judgment of all, and 
secured a patronage which makes the volume of business transacted oxer its 
counters of great importance and magnitude. In 1895 he was elected a school 
director, in which capacity he servefl for three years, and was president of 
the .school board one term. Socially he is a charter member of Columbia 
Lodge, A. O. U. W., and politically has always been a stanch supporter of the 
Democratic party. He is a man of prominence in the business world, his 
upright, honorable life haxing gained for him the confidence and high regard 
of his fellow citizens, and his popularity is justly deserved. He has one 
son, Eugaie Chilberg, who was born October 29. 1875, who has been in 
Nome for three or four 3 ears and is secretary and treasurer of the Pioneer 
Mining Compau}-, also interested m the Hot Air Alining Companx'. 

\\^\LTER SHEPARD FUL.TON. 

The name of l*\ilton has long figured conspicuously on the pages of 
American history, and he of whom we write has become an eminent citizen of 
Seattle. Although but a young man he has already attained distinction at 
the bar and is now serving as prosecuting attorney of King county, making 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. S5 

his home in Seattle. He was born in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, on the loth 
of August, 1873, his ancestors having come to this country from the north 
of Ireland. Robert Fulton, the first of the name here, took up his abode in 
Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, at a very early epoch in its histon-. Pie 
was the great-grandfather of our subject, and fought in the Re\-oluti(jnary 
war on the side of the colonists. William P. Fulton, the father 
of Walter S., was born in Pennsylvania in 1840, and after arri\ing at years 
of maturity married ilartha \\liite, a native of Wellsburg, Virginia. 
Throughout the greater part of his business career he carried on merchandis- 
ing but is now living retired, his home being in Akron, Ohio. Fie has always 
been a stanch advocate of the Republican party and in religious faith is a 
Presbyterian. 

Since the age of eight years Walter Shepard Fulton has resided with his 
uncle, Judge William H. White, now justice of the supreme court of Wash- 
ington. He acquired his early education in the public schools of this city and 
afterward attended the University of Washington. In one year's time he 
completed a two years' course in the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, 
and was admitted to the bar before the supreme court of that state in 1894. 
He then returned to Seattle and began his law practice. He has succeeded 
because his equipment was unusually good, because he has applied himself 
closely, because he has been most diligent in his work and devoted to the 
interests of his clients. For three years he served as deputy prosecuting 
attorney under Mr. McElro}' and was then nominated by the Democratic 
party for the office which he is now filling. Pie made a l)rilliant campaign, 
delivered many stirring campaign addresses and was triumi)hantlv elected. 
He ran far ahead of his party ticket and the signal victory which he won indi- 
cates his great popularity in the county in which he Avas reared and educated, 
and was also a tribute to his professional skill. Since entering upon the 
duties of the office he has tried a number of very noted criminal cases which 
he has prosecuted successfully, among those being the Nordstrom murder 
case, which resulted in the punishment of the criminal, notwithstanding the 
very able defense and untiring efforts of the opposing counsel. 

In November, 1898, JMr. Fulton was united in marriage to Miss Etta 
Nugent, of Port Blakely, Washington, a daughter of Captain Joseph Nugent,- 
now of Seattle. He is a member of the Sons of the American Revolution and 
of the legal Phi Delta Phi fraternity of the University of Michigan. Both 
our subject and his wife have a large circle of friends and are held in the 
highest regard in the city and state in which ihcy ha\e so long made their 
home, spending almost tlieir entire lives here. The hospitalitv of the best 



86 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

iiomes of Seattle is cordially extendetl them. In ])n;fessional ranks Mr. 
Fulton is also widely known and his strong inentalitx'. laudable ambition and 
force of character indicate that his will be a successful future. 

JAMES LEE. 

I'or a number of years an active factor in the industrial interests of 
Seattle, James Lee, through his diligence, perseverance and. business ability, 
has acquired a handsome competence and has also contributed to the general 
prosprity through the conduct of an enterprise which has furnished employ- 
ment to others. Reliability in all trade transactions, loyalty to all duties of 
citizenship, fidelity in the discharge of every duty reposed in him — these are 
his chief characteristics and through the passing years ha\e gained for him 
the unqualified confidence and respect of his fellow men. 

Mr. Lee is a native of Canada, being l;orn in Woodstock, Ontario, on 
the 25th of August, 1865, and he is of Eng^lish ancestry. His father, James 
Lee, emigrated to this country from England in 1840. and after his arrival 
took up his abode on a farm in Ontario. He was accompanied on the jour- 
ney by his wife, who bore the maiden name of Emma Cholcraft. They 
were members of the Episcopal church, in which he was an active worker for 
many years, and his death occurred in Canada in 1884, his wife joining him 
in the spirit world in 1898. They became the parents of eight children, seven 
of whom are .still living. 

James Lee, the only representative of the above family on the Pacific 
coast, received his literary education in the schools of Woodstock, Canada, 
while his business training was received in the Ontario College of Pharmacy, 
in Toronto, in which he was graduated in 1886. For a year thereafter he 
served as a clerk in a drug store in that city, and then came to Seattle, where 
n similar period was spent as a drug clerk. In i8go he embarked in the drug 
business on his own account, at his present location, at the corner of Second 
avenue and Columbia street, where he has a storeroom twenty-four by one 
hundred feet, filled with a complete stock of such goods as are usually kept 
in a first-class city drug store, i fe is recognized as one of the most straight- 
forward, energetic and successful business mai of Seattle, and in trade cir- 
cles he is an important factor. He is public spirited and thoroughly inter- 
ested in whatever tends to promote the moral, intellectual and material wel- 
fare of the city, and is numbered among its valued and honored citizens. 

The marriage of Mr. Lee was celebrated on the 24th of February, 1896, 
when Miss Elizabeth Paddock liecamc bis wife. She is a native of the Golden 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 87 

slate, her Ijirth occurring m San trancisco, where her mother, Mrs. Nathaniel 
C. Paddock, is now residing. Two children have l^een born of this union, — 
Beatrice E. and Edith C. JVIr. and Airs. Lee are members of the Episcopal 
church, and he is also identified with the Masonic fraternity, e.Kemplifying its 
beneficent principles in his every day life. He also holds membership relations 
with the National Union and the Ancient Order of LTnited Workmen. In po- 
litical matters he affiliates with the Republican party, but has never been a 
seeker for political preferment, choosing rather to give his undivided time to 
hs business interests. 

ELMER E. CAINE. 

Prominently connected with the shipping interests of the great north- 
west, Elmer E. Caine makes his home in Seattle, where he superintends his 
extensive business interests as the president of the Pacific Clipper Line. Na- 
ture has made this portion of America rich in resources, but it remains for 
man to utilize these, and one of the most important elements in the business 
development of any section is transportation facilities, 'whereby products and 
manufactures may be sent to markets. The gold fields of .-Vla.ska, which are 
being so largely worked at the present time, liave made a demand for means 
of transporting passengers and freight to and from that country, and it is 
to this enterprise that Mr. Caine is now giving his attention, his splendid 
business ability and executive force Ijeing manifest in his capable control ot 
the \-essels which now constitute the Pacific Clipper Line. 

Mr. Caine is a native of Wisconsin, his birth having occurred at White 
Lake, near Muskegon, on the 31st of May, 1863. He is a son of Alfred A. 
Caine, who was descended in the maternal line from one of the Harpers of 
tlie famous family of that name at Harpersburg, New York. The father 
was a man of considerable means. After leaving school Elmer E. Caine 
went to Chicago, Illinois, where he was employed in a notion house for four 
years. He afterward went with the W^isconsin Central Railroad Company, 
accepting the position of passenger agent at Alinneapoiis, Minnesota, and 
spending three years in that city. In 1889 lie arri\-ed at Seattle, where he 
Ijecame connected with the steamboat luisiness on his own account as the 
senior member of the firm of E. E. Caine & Company, operating freight and 
lug boats on the Sound. He carried this on ^intil he organized the Pacific 
CIipi)er Line in 1898. for the Alaska trade. The company owns some of its 
own vessels, but is mostly acting as agent for other owners. They reach 
Skagway. Cape Nome and other Alaska points during the summer season. 



88 REPRESEXTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

In 1890 tliey built the steamer G. W. Dickinson, with a capacity of sixteen 
luuuh-ed tons, which has since been sold to the govemment for one hundred 
and fifty thousand dollars The company has also built two sailing vessels, 
of seventy-five thousand dollars xrduc, which were completed in 1901. They 
now operate ten vessels ir. the Alaska trade and receive a liberal patronage, 
so that the business, while ]m-o\ ing a profitable source of income to the stock- 
holders, is also of the greatest value as a means of ad\ancing the develop- 
ment and progress of the extreme northwest. 

Captain Caine is a man of resourceful business ability, enterprising and 
far-sighted, and in addition to controlling his navigation interests, he has 
made judicious investments in real estate in Seattle. He has erected a num- 
l)er of residences, now owning nine or ten good pro])erties of that class, and 
in addition has other city realty. 

The Captain was married in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Miss Alinnie 
A. Roberts, and they lia\c an attractive home in Seattle, which is celebrated 
for its gracious hospitalit}'. Fraternally he is connected with the Benevolent 
and Protective Order of Elks as one of its life members. A man of great 
natural ability, his success in business from the beginning of his residence 
in Seattle has been uniform and rapid. Ele possesses untiring energy, forms 
his plans readily and is determined in their execution, and has demonstrated 
the truth of the saying that success is not a matter of genius, but the outcome 
of clear judgment and experience. 

ERIDOLIX WILHELAI. 

More than a third of a century has passed since ]\[r. Wilhelm came to 
wliat was then the territory of Washington, arrixing here in the year 1866. 
The previous year he had made his way to California by the Isthmus of 
I'anama route. He was bom in Germany on the 14th of September. 1S41. 
and came of good German Catholic parentage, his father being Nathan 
Wilhelm. He was a farmer, following that occupation throughout his 
entire life. He reared a family of six children, four sons and two daughters. 
He lived to be eighty-four years of age. His wife, however, had passed 
away ten years prior to his death. 

Mr. Wilhelm was educated in his native country and ihcre learned the 
cabinet maker's trade. In 1858. when he had attained his eighteenth year, 
he left the land of his birth for he had heard favorable reports concerning 
America, its opportunities for improvements and for progress. He sailed 
for New Orleans, his father furnishing him the money to pay his passage 





^(^ 



' - y y" < 




SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 89 

west, enabling him to make a start in the land of the free. Proceeding 
riorthward he traveled to Kentucky and there worked at the cabinet maker's 
trade. He then went to Cincinnati and went to public school one winter. 
On the 1st of July, 1863, the great need of the country for volunteers caused 
him to enlist in Battery E of the United States army, becoming a member 
of the Ninth Army Corps. He was in the three days' battle of the Wil- 
derness and was in many engagements, including the assault on Fort Sand- 
ers and in Campbell's station in east Tennessee. After Lee's surrender he 
proceeded with his command to Washington and participated in the grand 
review in that city when the victorious Union troops marched before the 
stand upon which the President of the United States watched his returning 
army. He never received a \\ound but had suffered with disease, having 
been afflicted with yellow fever. A part of the time he acted as a wagoner 
and was in the quartermaster's employ. At length he received an hon- 
orable discharge from the regular army in 1868 at San Juan Island, near 
Washington territory. 

As stated, Mr. Wilhelm made his way to the Pacific coast in the year 
1865, and in 1866 came to the territory. After receiving his discharge from 
military service he settled at Seattle and began working at the carpenter and 
builder's trade. In 1876 he built his first home in the city, on the lot where 
he now has an attractive residence. No. 622 Fifth avenue. It was in the 
same year that he was united in marriage to Miss Regina Bolhert, a native 
of Germany. Their family comprises three sons and a daughter, all of 
whom were born in Seattle. These are: John H., Frank Joseph, Frita 
A., and Ann Regina. Mrs. Wilhelm is a member of the Catholic church. 
Mr. Wilhelm belongs to the Ancient Order of United Workmen and to 
the Grand Army of the Republic, and in his political views is a Republi- 
can, having firm faith in the principles and tenets of the party. He has 
taken a deep interest in the building of Seattle and has here a good brick 
store and other property. He has wisely invested his means and the 
judicious placing of his money has brought him a good financial return. 
He is a man of intelligence and ability and one of the valued citizens that 
Germany has furnished to Washington. 

GEORGE B. LAMPING. 

A new chapter has i)een written and added to the history of the United 
States w.ithin the past few years and it is one which reflects credit upon the 
countrv and her annals. It shows her mihtarv and naval strength and has 



90 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

gained her a prominent place among tlie great powers of the world. His- 
tory is never the work of one or even a few men, but is the aggregate en- 
deavor of many who work in unison with a single purpose and aim. George 
B. Lamping is among the number contributing to the new record, for he 
was a loyal soldier during the Spanish-American war and in the Philippines 
faithfully upheld the honor of the starry banner that had been planted on 
foreign soil. 

A native of Spencer county, Indiana,, he was born on the 20th of March, 
1875, '1"^' 's "^ Cierman, English and Scotch lineage. At an early date in 
the development of this land the Lamping family was established in Penn- 
sylvania, our subject being of the fourth generation born in this country. 
His father, Samuel W. Lamping, was a native of Kentucky, whence he re- 
mo \'ed to southern Indiana and was there married to ]\Iiss Mary E. Butler, 
a native of Grandview, that state. For a number of years he was engaged 
in business as a commission merchant and in 1890 he came to Seattle as special 
agent for the United States land department. In politics he was a stalwart 
Republican and was a veteran of the Civil war who served the Union as a 
lieutenant-colonel in the Fifty-second Indiana Regiment at the time the coun- 
rry was imperilled by the spirit of secession in the south. He was with Gen- 
eral Sherman on the celebrated march to the sea which showed that the mili- 
tary force of the Confederacy was almost exhausted. He escaped injury, 
returning in safety to his home after rendering his country' valuable service, 
in his religious views he was a Methodist and departed this life in that faith 
in 1893. His wife now resides in Seattle, respected by all who know her. 
Six children were born unto them and all are living upon the Pacific coast; 
Evart, who is the cashier of the German Insurance agency in San Francisco; 
L. F., a special insurance agent at Portland, Oregon; Clifton, a teller in the 
Boston National Bank of Seattle; Samuel, who is deputy" auditor of King 
county under his brother, George; Frederick, who is attending school in 
Seattle; and Anna, also a student. 

George B. Lamping pursued his early education in the sclmols of his 
native state and at the age of fifteen accompanied his parents to Washing- 
ton, where he completed his literary course in the university of the state. 
For a time he occupied the position of bookkeeper in the Puget Sound Na- 
tional Bank of Seattle, but when the war with Spain was declared he put 
aside business and personal interests, offering his services to the govern- 
ment. He was appointed second lieutenant of Company D, First Washing- 
ton Volunteer Infantry, and served throughout the war with Spain and in the 
Philippines. He was promoted to the rank of captain in the Eleventh L'nited 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 91 

States Cavalr}-, and because of meritorious conduct was commended by Gen- 
eral Otis and General l.awton. He also served on the staff of the latter. 
Since returning from the war he has been appointed liteutenant-colonel of 
the First Regiment of the Washington National Guard, since which time he 
has been promoted to colonel, with headquarters at Seattle. In November, 
1900, he was elected to his present office as county auditor and recorder on the 
Republican ticket, receiving the largest majority ever given to any candidate 
for an office in the county, running fifteen hundred ^'otes ahead of his ticket. 
He is the youngest man that has ever held a county or state office in Wash- 
ington, now having charge of the business connected with the position in a 
county containing one hundred and eighty thousand inhabitants. He has 
under his direction thirty clerks. He was not long in demonstrating that the 
trust reposed in him was well placed, for his ability, keen discrimination, 
sound judgment and executive force would do credit to the administration 
of a man many years his senior. Colonel Lamping is connected with the 
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Ancient Order of United Work- 
mai and the Woodmen of the World, and as a citizen and a soldier he has 
made a most praiseworthy record, his life work well deserving a place in the 
history of his adopted count}'. 

LOUIS HENRY GRAY. 

The above named, \\-ho is now acti',-ely engaged as traffic agent of the 
Pollard Steamship Company and in the shipping and commission business at 
Seiittle, is a nati\-e of Pennsylvania and of Scotch and German ancestry. 
His paternal great-grandfather emigrated from Scotland to the new world, 
settling on the Hudson not far from Troy, New York. Henry Gray, 
the grandfather of our subject, was born there and was one of the 
first men connected with the operating and mechanical departments of 
the old New York & New Haven Railroad in the days when wooden rails 
were used. In his religious belief he was a Presbyterian, and living an up- 
right life he attained the age of sevent}- years. His son, Theodore Gray, the 
father of our subject, was born in Troy, New York, in 1832, and married 
Miss Anna Sourbeck, whose birth occurred in INTeciianicsburg, Pennsylvania, 
and who w-as of German ancestry, although for generations her people had 
been residents of this country. Her father, George W. Sourbeck, was on the 
engineer corps in the construction of the Pennsylvania Railroad in the bridge 
.department. After his marriage Theodore Gray resided in Alleghenv city 
for alx)ut twenty years and was employed in the operating department of the 



92 REPRESENTATIVE CmZEXS OF 

Pennsylvania Railroad Company. He was a gentleman of the old school 
and a personal friend of the late President \\'il]iam McKinley. Removing 
to Chicago, Illinois, ^Ir. Gray there continued in the mechanical department 
of railroading and as an expert on ice making niachinerj- for a number of 
years. He died at East Brewster, Cape Cod, ^lassachusetts, August i, 1902. 
His good wife survives and is a valued member of the Presbyterian church. 
They had but two children, the daughter being the wife of Captain E. G. 
Brooks, of the United States Regular service. 

The son, Louis Henry Gray, was born at Allegheny city, Octol)er 4, 
J 859, attended the public schools of his native city and is a graduate of the 
Xewell Institute in the class of 1878. He then left home for Wyoming, 
where for three years he was actively engaged in stock-raising. He made 
money rapidly there and on the expiration of that period sold out and re- 
moved to Chicago, where he opened a men's furnishing goods store and did 
a successful business for two years. He then disposed of his store and 
became a resident of New York city, where he accepted a position as special 
agent with the Trunk Line Association, and after a year was transferred to 
the Central Traffic Association at Chicago. His connection with that busi- 
ness lasted seven years, and he was then given the position of contracting 
agent of the Great Xorthern Railroad Company at Seattle, arriving in this 
ftate in 1894. After nine months he was promoted to the general agency of 
the company at Seattle, which position he later resigned to accept that of 
general traffic manager of the famous White Pass and Yukon Railroad 
Company. After continuing in that capacity for a year, according to the 
terms of his contract, he severed his connection in order to engage in an in- 
dependent venture, turning his attention to the shipping and commission 
business, in which he is meeting with marked success. His business activity 
in the northwest has extended to other lines and he is now a stockholder in 
several steamships and sailing vessels. 

In 1893 ^^^- Gray was united in marriage with ^liss Halcon, daughter 
of John Robertson, of Jamestown. Xew York, The latter was formerly one 
of the most prominent oil operators in Pennsylvania, also served as sheriff 
of Chautauqua county. New York, for a number of years, and died in 1891. 
The Robertson family was of Scotch lineage, but through many generations 
its representatives have been connected with this country. Mrs. Gray is aix 
active and valued member of the Advisory Board of the Ladies' Relief So- 
ciety of Seattle and is now serving as its chairman. She is also chairman of 
the Advisor}- Board of the Charity Organization Society of this city and of. 
the Advisory Board of the Seattle Day Nursery, taking a deep interest in the 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 93 

little orphan children. Her philanthropy and her benevolences have made 
her a valued friend to many unfortunate people. She belongs to St. Mark's 
Episcopal church and in lier life e.xemplifies the true spirit of Christianity. 
l\Ir. Gray has attained a high rank in Masonic circles, having taken the 
i-Inightg Templar degree and the Scottish Rite, up to and including the thirty- 
second degree. He is also a member of the Mystic Shrine, and in politics is a 
Republican. Both Mr. and Mrs. Gray have a large circle of friends in Seattle 
and the hospitahty of the best homes is extended to them. In business Mr. 
Gray has attained very creditable and honorable success, and those who have 
been associated with him and are fully conversant with his life and his business 
methods speak of him in terms of highest praise, considering him as one of the 
best posted traffic men on the Pacific coast. 

TIMOTHEUS JOSENHANS. 

Among the leading business men of .Seattle who have been prominently 
identified with the upbuikling of that city is numbered Timotheus Josenhans, 
the senior member of the well-known firm of Josenhans & Allan, architects, 
with office at 74 and 75 Hinckley Block. Here he has made his home since 
1888. He was bom near Stuttgart, in the province of Wurtemberg, Ger- 
many, on the nth of October, 1853, and is a son of Jonathan Josenhans, 
who was engaged in mercantile business in that country until 1855, when 
he brought his family to the United States and settled on a farm that is now 
within the corporate limits of Ann Arbor, Michigan. There he continues 
to make liis home, being now eighty-six years of age, while his wife, who 
bore the maiden name of Charlotte Weigle, is about eighty years old. Unto 
them were bom twelve children, seven sons and five daughters. 

The early education of our subject, acquired in the public schools of 
]\'Iichigan, was supplemented by a course at Ann Arbor University, where 
he was graduated in the civil engineering department in 1878. He also 
took up the study of architecture under W. L. B. Jenny, now of Chicago. 
On the completion of his education he taught German in the public schools 
of McGregor, Iowa, for a year, and then went to New Mexico, becoming 
connected with the engineering corps in the construction of the Atlantic & 
Pacific Railroad. After a year and a half he was forced to leave the territory 
on account of ill health and went to San Diego, California, where he became 
interested in the construction of the California Southern Railway, from that 
place to San Bernardino, and was with that company imtil the completion 
of the road. Riverside was just being laid out at that time. 



94 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

On leaving California Mr. Josenhans went to Portland, Oregon, and 
entered upon his career as an architect in the office of Mr. Sherwin, an 
English arcliitect, with whom he remained until the latter's death. He was 
next with W. H. Williams, the most prominent architect of the city, and 
since then he has been connected with architectural work rather than engi- 
neering except when he had charge of the construction of the West Point 
light house in King county. Being pleased with this section of the country, 
he located at Seattle in the spring of 1888, and for a time was employed as 
foreman by H. Steinman. Three years later he started in business on his 
own account, and at the end of two years entered into partnership with 
James Stephen, a connection Avhich continued until the latter went to Alaska 
in 1895. During the following two years Mr. Josenhans was again alone in 
business, but in 1897 formed his present partnership with Norris B. Allan. 
Among the many important public buildings and residences he has erected 
may be mentioned the administration building and dormitory of the Agri- 
cultural College, and he is now putting up two other buildings for the sam.e 
institution — one the gymnasium and armory, the other the chemistry build- 
ing. He also erected two dormitories for the State University and is now 
building the science hall and power house for that college. He built the fine 
residences of Alden J. Blethen, Jr., at the corner of Highland Drive and 
Fifth avenue west; that of Rev. Wallace Nutting, now owned by ]\Iary M. 
-Miller; the homes of A. M. Cadien and P. L. Runkle; and a double house 
for A. Flancock. While with Mr. Steinman he also designed many of the 
warehouses of Seattle, the power houses for the cable and electric railways, 
and many blocks that are now standing, besides numerous buildings that 
were destroyed in the great fire that swept over the city in 1889. 

On the 15th of May, 1889, Mr. Josenhans was united in marriage to 
Miss Emma L. Parsons, who was born in Sivas, Asia Minor, where her 
parents w-ere missionaries at the time, but she was educated at Ann Arbor, 
ilichigan. Her father, Rev. Benjamin Parsons, w-as a native of New Jersey. 
His son, Henry Parsons, who was also born in Sivas, became a noted chem- 
ist and was connected with the agricultural department at Washington, D. C. 
Later he was a professor at Ann Arbor University. Charles Parsons, an- 
other son, is editor of the Pharmaceutical Era of New York, published by 
D, O. Haynes, of the Commercial Advertiser, who was a classmate of our 
subject while in college. Mr. and Mrs. Josenhans have two children : Sarah 
Cliarlotte and ]>i[argaret Parsons. The family have a pleasant home in 
Seattle which has been remodeled and greatly improved since it came into 
possession of our subject. They hold membership in the Plymouth Con- 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 95 

gregational church and have a large circle of friends and acquaintances in 
their adopted city. 

Pohtically Mr. Josenhans generally affiHates with the RepubHcan party, 
but at local elections votes independently of party lines, supporting the men 
whom he believes best qualified for office. He served as building inspector 
for a year and a half and then resigned. He occupies an enviable position in 
business circles, where his true worth is widely recognized. He is a man of 
strong force of character, purposeful and energetic, and keen discrimination 
and sound judgment are shown in the capaljle management of his business 
affairs. 

CARL HOFFMAN, M. D. 

Dr. Carl Hoffman is one of the younger men of Seattle who has be- 
come fii-mly established in the medical profession here as one of its ablest 
representatives and is also well known in the musical circles of the city, his 
talent in this regard rendering him a favorite among the music lovers. The 
Doctor is a native of Illinois, his birth having occurred in ^^'ashington, near 
the city of Peoria, in 1872. His father, A. G. Hoffman, who is now re- 
siding in Omaha, Nebra.ska, was born in Germany and when twenty years 
of age came to America. He has been engaged in business in Illinois and in 
Florida and for fifteen years has been connected with the business interests 
of Omaha. He was married in Illinois to Miss Sarah Kelso, who is of Scotch 
descent, members of the family having come from Scotland to this country 
prior to 1700. The Doctor is the elder of two sons born unto his parents, 
his brother being now a resident of St. Louis. 

In the schools of his native state Dr. Hoffman began his education, 
which was continued in Florida, to which state he accompanied his parents 
when fourteen years of age. As there were no good public schools there he 
was instructed by private tutors while in the south, afterward attended 
Creighton University, in Omaha, and subsequently took up the study of medi- 
cine there, having formed a desire to make its practice his life work. That 
this step was wisely taken is proven by the success which has since attended 
his efforts in the medical field. He was graduated in the John A. Creighton 
?*Iedical College with the class of 1S96. and subsequently opened an office in 
Omaha, beginning practice alone. After a year he removed to Moscow, 
Idaho, from which place he came to this city. He was called here in con- 
sultation and was so pleased with the citA' and its prospects that he deter- 
mined to locate here. Accordingly he returned to Moscow, closed out his 



96 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

business there and in the course of six weeks was estabhshed in his office 
here. From the beginning he has enjoyed a good practice in both medicine 
and surgery. He is continually reading in order to broaden his understand- 
ing of the human system and its needs in health and disease, and the profes- 
sion as well as the public accords to him a prominent place in the calling 
which he has chosen as a life work. He is now the physician for the county 
jail, and in addition to this he has a large private practice. 

Dr. Hoffman was married in Omaha, in November, 1896, to Miss 
Ina, a daughter of H. B. Kennedy, of that city, and they have one son, Carl. 
The Doctor is a Republican in politics but takes no active part in political 
Avori<. He belongs to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and in 
the line of his profession is identified with the King County Medical Asso- 
ciation, the Washington State Medical Association and the American Medi- 
cal Association. Both the Doctor and his wife are prominent and popular 
in musical circles and both possess considerable ability in the art. The Doc- 
tor possesses a fine bass voice and has studied in Omaha and Seattle and also 
vmder \V. H. Niedlinge, a successful composer and teacher. He and his wife, 
together with Professor F. W. Zimmerman and ]\Iiss Mamie Grove, have 
given some very delightfu! and successful concerts here and have rendered 
some of the finest operas in a manner superior to anything ever given in 
Seattle. The Doctor has also done considerable in church choir work. He 
is a member of the Trinity Parish church choir and has also sung in St. 
Mark's church. Aside from music, fishing is his chief source of recreation 
from the arduous demands of a profession, which is making greater and 
greater claims upon his time, but whose successful practice has given him 
standing among the foremost representatives of medical science in the city. 

ERASMUS M. SMITHERS. 

The gentleman whose life history we now take briefly under review 
has the distinction of being one of the honored pioneers of the Pacific coast 
and the founder of the attractive and thriving little city of Renton, King 
county, Washington, since he settled on the land where the town is now 
located in 1853, his farm being fifteen miles distant from what is now the 
great city of Seattle, while at the time of his location here there was not 
a white settler other than himself at a point nearer than the city mentioned, 
which was then a mere frontier settlement. In a retrospective way those 
of the present generation may gain from the narratives and reminiscences 
of Mr. Smithers an idea of the wonderful transitions that l.ave taken place 




^ ^//j^ c/yyt(jie 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 97 

since he first located in what is now a great and opulent state, and it is a 
satisfaction to here enter a perpetual record concerning the life and labors 
of this honored pioner, though the limitations of this publication will not 
justify the entering into the manifold details of his experiences, though the 
record could not fail to prove of interest. 

Erasmus M. Smithers is a native of Virginia, where he was born on 
the 17th of Februar>% 1830, the family being of English origin and rep- 
resentatives of the name having been numbered among the early settlers 
in Virginia and North Carolina. His father, Samuel Smithers, was like- 
wise born in Virginia, and there he married a Miss Hale, also a represen- 
tative of one of the old families of that great commonwealth, where was 
cradled so much of our national histor}'. The father was a planter and 
was a man of strong mentality and sterling character, both he and his 
estimable wife having passed their entire lives in Vii'ginia. Erasmus M. 
was reared to maturity in Virginia and his early education was very limited 
in scope. He has, however, gained the valuable lessons of experience 
through personal application and through active association with the prac- 
tical affairs of life, being thus self-educated, even as he is the architect of 
his own fortunes. When nineteen years of age he left the old home and 
set forth to become one of the venturesonie and intrepid pioneers of the 
great west. It may be said that he had no intention of coming through to 
Oregon, his starting forth on the long journey being largely a matter of 
accident, as a friend had informed him that two young ladies were about 
to start for this section with a company, and that one of the members of 
the party desired to secure the services of a young man to aid him during 
the journey across the plains. The information thus conveyed indirectly 
led Mr. Smithers to have an interview with the man mentioned. Green 
Olds, who was a brother of the captain of the company. Our subject was 
at that time a slender youth, his appearance not indicating that he could 
endure much hardship, and after looking him over Mr. Olds stated that 
he did not want him. Mr. Smithers then asked what he would charge to 
take him along with the company, and upon a price of fifty dollars being 
set he immediately accepted the proposition. On the 8th of May, 1852, 
the company, with twenty w^agons drawn by ox teams, started on the long 
and perilous journey, Mr. Smithers doing no active work on the start, as 
he had paid for his passage, but he soon grew weary of his inactivity and 
began to assist in the work incidental to the trip and proved not only his 
endurance but his marked facility in discharging the duties which he vol- 
untarily assumed. While enroute they encountered many vast herds of 



98 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

buffalo, and our subject killed a number of these noble beasts and other 
game, with which to supply the larder of the party. That was a year of 
extensive emigration, and many died of cholera while making their way 
to the far west, but the company of which Mr. Smithers was a member 
fortunately escaped the ravages of this scourge. When fifteen miles west 
of Omaha, Nebraska, a large band of Indians met them at a bridge and 
demanded a payment of one dollar a wagon before they passed on. The 
captain refused to pay, and drove his team across the bridge, and as Mr. 
Olds hesitated, fearing results, our subject took the whip and drove the 
wagon across, this having been the second to make the attempt, and the 
oxen in the lead was seized by one of the Indians, who held it by the horn 
until he was felled with a wdiip. The savages gave the war cry, greatly 
frightening the women of the party, but the men showed their determina- 
tion to fight and the Indians finally withdrew, though they continued to 
follow the party for three or four days, rendering it necessary to main- 
tain a guard every night. During the last of the trip Mr. Olds was ill, 
and Mr. Smithers made himself very useful and helpful, a strong friend- 
ship being thus cemented. Our subject has lost trace of his old-time friend, 
whom he pronounces one of the best men he has ever known, and he ex- 
presses the wish that this tribute be incorporated in this article, hoping 
that Mr. Olds is still living and that this acknowledgment of his kindness 
may come to his vision. Six months were consumed in making the trip 
from Iowa City to The Dalles, Oregon, from which point they continued 
their way to Portland, where Mr. Smithers secured employment in con- 
nection with the building of a mill. In April, 1853, he came to Seattle, 
and here secured employment in getting out piles, which were shipped to 
San Francisco. He brought with him from Portland three yoke of cattle, 
and with these he hauled the first logs that were used in the building of 
Fort Madison mill. When the Indian war of 1855 broke out he volunteered 
for service, and continued a member of the volunteer militia until 1856, 
having rendered valuable assistance in the protection of the lives and prop- 
erty of the pioneer settlers. 

In November, 1857, ]\Ir. Smithers was united in marriage to Mrs. 
Diana Tobin, a native of Maine, and shortly after this important event in 
his life he came to his present location, taking up homestead and donation 
claims and securing a total of four hundred and eighty acres. At the time 
he came here five hundred or more Indians were encamped near, engaged 
in fishing. The land was a veritable wilderness, and the nearest white 
neighbors were at Seattle, fifteen miles distant, as has already been noted. 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 99 

He and his young wife were without a dollar when they established their 
home in the primitive wilds, the land being covered with a dense growth of 
trees and vines. They built a little shack, which constituted their home 
during the first years of their happy married life, and there their children 
were bom. Their son, Edward M., is now the superintendent of the shoe 
'iepartment of the company store at Roslyn, and the daughter, Ada, who 
■is the widow of Robert L. Thorn, is living at the parental home, as are 
also her four children, — Robert Maxwell. Herbert E., Jeanette and Vivian. 
Mr. Smithers is now passing the evening of his useful and honorable life 
in an attractive and commodious residence which he erected in 1875, and 
is enjoying that independence and freedom from care which is the just 
reward for his earnest and indefatigable industry during a long, active and 
worthy life. The city of Renton is located on a portion of the land which 
he secured from the government in the early days and which he has brought 
under a fine state of improvement. He platted the town and placed the 
lots on the market, and it has been a great pleasure and satisfaction to 
him to witness the development and progress of the city of which he was 
the founder and in whose affairs he has maintained a lively interest. He 
also discovered the deposit of coal here and inaugurated the work of de- 
velopment, finally disposing of the mine at a figure which insures him in- 
dependence for the residue of his life. 

Notwithstanding the fact that ]\lr. Smithers began life in the woods 
of Washington as a poor man, such was his reputation for honor and in- 
tegrity that he received necessary accommodations from merchants who 
refused credit to others, and his life has been ever directed upon a high 
plane of rectitude, so that he commands unqualified confidence and esteem 
in the state of which he is a worthy pioneer and representative citizen. He 
has given his allegiance to the Democratic party from the time of attaining 
his majority, his first vote having been cast in support of Hon. Isaac I. 
Stevens for governor of the territory. He is a member of the Washington 
Pioneer Society and during the war of the rebellion he was initiated into 
the mysteries of the Masonic fraternity, being one of the first members of 
St. John's Lodge, No. 9, A. F. & A. M., of Seattle, one of the first lodges 
instituted in the territory. He is a stockholder and one of the board of trustees of 
the South Prairie Coal Mining Company, and has other important capital- 
istic interests. He was appointed by Governor Terry and once by Governor 
Solomon a trustee of the State University and was elected president of the 
board of regents. Mr. Smithers was appointed one of the administrators 
of the estate of his friend C. C. Terrj^ of Seattle, which at the time of his 



loo REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

death was involved to the amount of nineteen thousand dollars, the prop- 
erty owned extending from Yessler Way to Madison street, in the city of 
Seattle, and being a large and very valuable tract. The administrators paid 
off the indebtedness, kept the family in the meanwhile and finally turned 
over to the five children one hundred and fifty thousand dollar? each, the 
fidelity shown in handling the affairs of the estate causing the judge who 
discharged the administrators to say that it had been managed with eminent 
ability and honor. 

ABIJAH I. BEACH, M. D. 

The medical fraternity in Washington has an able representative in 
the person of Dr. Beach, whose is the distinction of being the pioneer phy- 
sician and surgeon of the thriving little city of Renton, while the high es- 
timation in which he is held in the community is signalized by the prefer- 
ment which is his at the time of this writing, since he is mayor of the city and 
has gained unqualified endorsement for his able and discriminating admin- 
istration of municipal affairs. His life has been one of marked devotion 
to the work of his noble profession, in which he has attained distinctive 
l^restige, and his career is properly taken under review in a compilation of 
this nature. 

Abijah Ives Beach is a representative of families which have been long 
identified with the annals of American history, and he is a native of the 
Buckeye state, having been bom in New Haven, Huron county, Ohio, on 
the 8th of February, 1836, his lineage on the paternal line tracing back to 
stanch English progenitors, while it is a matter of record that the original 
American ancestors settled on Long Island during the colonial epoch. There 
the great-grandfather of the Doctor passed the closing years of his life 
and thence two of his sons removed to the state of Connecticut and three 
to New Jersey, one of the Connecticut brothers being Samuel Beach, the 
grandfather of our subject. He was a civil engineer by profession and be- 
came the pioneer surveyor of the Connecticut Western Reserve in Ohio. 
The maiden name of his wife was Lois Ives and she was a member of one 
of the old and prominent families of Connecticut. Their son Asahel, the 
father of the Doctor, was born in Wallingford, New Haven county, Con- 
necticut, whence he accompanied the family on their removal to Ohio, where 
he passed the residue of his life, having been engaged in the banking busi- 
ness for many years and having been one of the honored and influential 
men of that locality. He married Miss Hannah Clum, a native of Holland, 




(RMJ/^f^:y^ ^"^^ 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. loi 

who died at the age of twenty-nine years, leaving three children, of whom 
two survive, the Doctor, and Hannah E., who is the widow of Benjamin O. 
Smith and who maintains her home in Bellville, Richland county, Ohio. 
The father was summoned into eternal rest at the age of fifty- four years. 
Moses Y. Beach, an uncle of the Doctor, was at one time owner of the 
New York Sun and his son, Alfred E., was one of the founders of the Scien- 
tific American. 

Dr. Abijah I. Beach enjoyed exceptional educational advantages in his 
youth, having completed a preliminar}' course of study in the academy at 
Ashland, Ohio, after which he went to Europe and entered the preparatory^ 
department of the celebrated University of France, taking the course in the 
school of arts and trades and passing all the examinations in connection with 
these important departments. He was later in the Ecole de Medicine of 
the city of Paris, where he continued his studies for some time and then 
returned to Ohio and entered the Western Reserve Medical College, in the 
city of Cleveland, where he was graduated as a member of the class of 1856, 
being but little more than twenty years of age at the time. This fact is 
significant, as showing that he had thoroughly improved the advantages 
which had been afforded him, and he was particularly well equipped for 
the active work of his profession while still a youth, and his judgment and 
wisdom had been singularly matured by the discipline which had been his 
and by his devotion to study. After receiving his degree of Doctor of 
Medicine he entered upon the practice of his profession in Pleasantville, 
Hancock county, Ohio, where he continued about a year, removing to Kan- 
sas in 1857 and becoming one of the pioneer physicians of that state, which 
was at that time the scene of much excitement and turbulence, owing to 
the protest against the extension of slavery into the territory, — a protest 
which had much to do with precipitating the war of the rebellion. The 
Doctor was engaged in practice at Waterloo, Lyons county, for a time and 
afterward removed to what is now Rice county, which was then practically 
in its primitive condition, having few settlers and being on the very fron- 
tier of civilization. The Doctor constructed a bridge over the Little Ar- 
kansas river, on the old Santa Fe trail, and also constructed the stone corral, 
and there he was associated with William Wheeler in conducting a trading 
post, bartering with the Indians and travelers on the Santa Fe trail, and 
it is hardly necessary to state that the Doctor met with many thrilling ex- 
periences and narrow escapes while thus living on the border. After a year 
had elapsed he sold his interests and removed to Cow Creek, a point about 
twenty miles west, and that much farther removed him from civilization. 



102 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

There he improved a ranch, constructed two bridges and engaged in the 
practice of his profession among the Indians and the white settlers who 
began to come in and take up the excellent land. In 1858, soon after locat- 
ing there, the Doctor had two desperate encounters with the Indians, and 
in each of tlicse instances he showed almost incredible bravery, while his 
escapes from death at the hands of the savages seem almost phenomenal. 
On the occasion of their first attack Dr. Beach was absent from his ranch, 
nhich he had left in charge of two men. The savages succeeded in captur- 
ing the ranch, but the two men escaped and met the Doctor as he was re- 
turning in the night, being about five miles distant from the ranch when 
he thus learned of the treachery of the Indians, whom he had always treated 
with utmost fairness and kindness. He took the two men into his wagon 
and proceeded on his way to the ranch. He approached and made a care- 
ful reconnoisance, and discovered that the Indians had found the whisky 
(jn the premises and had partaken so liberally of the "fire-water" as to be 
in a state of absolute intoxication. He entered the house in the darkness, 
secured all their arms and ammunition, and the entire band, comprising 
about twenty in numlier, were then driven from the ranch liy the Doctor and 
his two employes. Knowing well the character of the savages, the Doctor 
felt sure that they would return and attempt to obtain revenge, and he 
and his men prepared themselves for the attack as best they could. Three 
weeks later the Indians returned, surprising John Burr in the yard and captur- 
ing him. The Doctor went to his rescue and succeeded in getting him into 
the house, but a number of the Indians also effected an entrance at the same 
tiitie, and there followed a desperate hand-to-hand fight. The chief suc- 
ceeded in getting behind the Doctor and then garroted him with his arm, 
while the other savages proceeded to cut and slash at him with their knives. 
The arm with which he endeavored to ward ofif the blows was cut in many 
places between elbow and wrist, the sleeves of his garments being literally 
cut to pieces. Finally he received a blow on the head which caused him 
to fall to the floor, with his head covered with blood. He fell face for- 
ward into a sack of flour, and when he regained his feet and turned his 
face, made ghastly with the combined blood and flour, the savages fled from 
the house with his companions, the Doctor pursuing them, notwithstand- 
ing his severe injuries. In the yard he picked up a pole which he had cut 
for a sled runner, and threw it at one of his dusky foes with such force 
and precision as to break his leg and they fled in dismay, evidently believ- 
ing the Doctor bore a charmed life and that they could not compass his 
death. The encounter was one which left our subject incapacitated for 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 103 

many days, his injuries having been severe, and to-day he bears on his 
arms and other parts of his body scars which perpetually mark the wounds 
received in that desperate struggle. After the fight a party of men return- 
ing from Pike's Peak came along and took the Doctor and his man Burr, 
who was also badly cut, to the stone corral on the Little Arkansas, and 
it was many months before the Doctor recovered from his injuries. He 
soon afterward disposed of his ranch property and removed to Council 
Grove, Morris county, where he engaged in the practice of his profession, 
while from 1862 until January, 1864, he held the office of acting assistant 
surgeon with the government troops, during the Civil war, and from Jan- 
uary, 1864, to the end of the war as assistant surgeon in the Ninth Kansas 
Cavalry and serving in the Trans-Mississippi department, in Kansas, ]Mis- 
iouri, Arkansas and Indian Territory, his command being a part of the 
Seventh Army Corps. After the close of the war Dr. Beach returned to 
Council Grove, where he was successfully engaged in the practice of his 
profession until 1878, when he came to Washington, first locating in Fort 
Madison and thence coming to Seattle. He held for two years the appoint- 
ment as physician at the Tulalip Indian agency, in Snohomish county; was 
later engaged in professional work at Port Blakely for a few months, and 
then came to Renton. where he became physician for the Renton Mining 
Company and also held for a time a similar connection with the Black Dia- 
mond mine, while he soon succeeded in building up a representative private 
practice as the pioneer physician and surgeon of the town. His prestige is 
unmistakable and his services have been enlisted by the greater portion of 
the people of this locality, where he is well known and held in the higlrest 
esteem as a citizen and as one of the able members of his profession. The 
Doctor has ever been a close student and during his long residence in the 
west has kept in touch with the advances made in the sciences of medicine 
and surgery, so that he holds rank with the leading members of his pro- 
fession in the state, while his experience in practice has been of exception- 
ally wide and varied character. During his early residence in Rice county. 
Kansas, he conducted the Cow Creek post, and the valley where he resided 
was then known as Beach valley, having been named in his honor, as its 
pioneer settler. He was one of the organizers of the county and one of 
its first commissioners, while later he also held the position of superintend- 
ent of public instruction and county commissioner of IMorris county for 
a number of years. 

Since the war Dr. Beach has been unfaltering in his allegiance to the 
Republican party, and has ever been known as a progressive and public- 



104 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZEi^'S OF 

s])irited citizen, giving his inlluence and practical aid in snpport of all meas- 
ures for the general good and thus contributing to the material prosperity 
of the communities in which he has maintained his residence. The city 
of Renton was incorporated on the 31st of August, 1901, and to Dr. Beach 
came the distinction of having been elected its first mayor, in which ca- 
pacity he is still serving, bringing to bear his progressive ideas, mature 
judgment and marked business acumen in the administration of municipal 
.ift"airs and taking a deep interest in all that promotes the advancement 
and substantial upbuilding of his home city. The cause of education has 
found in him a stanch supporter, and he has served his district as school 
director for the past nine years. In 1871 Dr. Beach was raised to the mas- 
ter's degree in Council Grove Lodge, No. 36, A. F. & A. M., and is past master 
of his lodge, while he is also prominently identified with the Grand Army 
of the Republic and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. His history 
has been one exceptionally interesting and varied, and to enter mto details 
concerning his experiences in connection with pioneer life in the west would 
be to write a narrative which would constitute a volume in itself. His 
life has been one of signal usefulness and honor, and it is a pleasure to 
offer even this brief resume and tribute. 

On the 20th of October, i860, Dr. Beach was united in marriage to 
-Miss Rachel P. Vanderpool, a native of Kentucky and daughter of Hon. 
William Vanderpool, who was a member of the legislature of Missouri and 
became one of the pioneer settlers in Kansas. Dr. and Mrs. Beach have two 
children : William, who is engaged in the practice of medicine at Sheldon, 
Mason county, Washington; and Ellen E., who is the wife of Fred G. 
Smithers, of Renton. 

DANA W. BROWN. 

There are few men of Mr. Brown's years who have an intimate per- 
sonal knowledge of the early history of California, but in early boyhood 
he made the long journey across the plains and from that time forward 
has been an interested witness of the remarkable development of the west- 
ern country and at the present time he is a most important factor in the 
growth of a city which is rapidly rising to prominence on the northern 
Pacific slope — West Seattle. He has noted the methods which have led to 
the growth of California, has kept in touch with the times along the various 
lines promoting material progress, and is well qualified to have in charge 




^2^^ iMiTr^iriArny 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 105 

a business looking to the growth and upbuilding of this portion of Wash- 
ington. 

Mr. Brown was born in the historic city of Baltimore, Alaryland, on 
the 28th of April, 1852, a son of Smith and Chloe (Thayer) Brown, both 
representatives of old New England families and of English descent. The 
father was born in Rhode Island, the mother in Massachusetts, and after their 
marriage, which was celebrated in New England, they removed to Balti- 
more, and in 1852 crossed the plains to California. The father was a foun- 
dryman and owned quite a large foundry in Baltimore. Air. Bucks, the 
patentee of the Bucks stove, was a foreman in his foundry and there manu- 
factured his first stove. Mr. Brown had made arrangements to sell his 
foundn,- at a good price, but before the transfer had been effected the plant 
vvas destroyed by fire and the father was left almost bankrupt. This w^as 
the second time he had suffered heavy losses by fire, and too discouraged 
to make another attempt in business in the east, he decided to go west. 
He stopped at St. Joseph, Missouri, looking for a location, and while there 
became infected wdth a strong attack of the gold fever, in consequence of 
which he purchased some fine teams and organized a company of eight or 
ten men with whom he started across the plains for California. When he 
readied Salt Lake City the men who had agreed to drive his teams for 
their transportation made a claim for wages. A trial was held and they 
were put in the chain gang. Mr. Brown then secured other drivers and 
proceeded on his way. There was much stock along the trail that had 
been abandoned by previous emigrants when the animals had become foot- 
sore and worn out, but after resting for a time these horses had become 
as good as ever and were quite valuable. This abandoned stock Mr. Brown 
collected and upon reaching San Bernardino he had one hundred head. 
He proceeded to San Francisco, where he opened a livery stable. He also 
located one hundred and si.xty acres of government land at the Presidio, 
which he afterward sold. In 1858 he located at Napa, wiiere he engaged 
in the livery business, conducted a hotel and established a stage line, being 
one of the first owners of the early stage lines of the state. He played a 
prominent part in the frontier development of his portion of California and 
was active in public and official life. He served on the state board of equal- 
ization and in various other offices, and his efforts were of benefit to the 
commonwealth in manv wavs. l)i)th in the material development and in 
establishing the legal and moral status of the state. He died November 
28, 1901. He had been an honored pioneer settler who had aided in laying 
broad and deep the foundation upon which the present progress and pros- 
7 



io6 REPRESENTATIVE CTITZENS OF 

perity of the state rest. His widow still survives him and is now living 
in Napa, at the age of seventy-eight years. They were the parents of five 
children, two of whom died in Baltimore. Frances B. became the wife of 
Henry Edgerton but both are now deceased. The surviving sister of our 
subject is Summit, the wife of Homer S. King, a banker of San Francisco. 
She was born during the journey to California on the summit of the Sierras, 
lience her name. 

Dana W. Brown was only a few months old when his parents left 
Baltimore and started westward on a journey that eventually brought them 
to the Pacific coast. He was rejyed in San Francisco and Napa, acquiring 
a common school education. At the age of eighteen years he accepted the 
position of express messenger for the Wells-Fargo Express Company, his 
route being between San Francisco and Calistoga — at that time a much 
more responsible and dangerous position than it is to-day under the present 
organized system. The distance was eighty miles by rail and boat and 
the trip was made daily. Mr. Brown continued to fill the position for 
two years and then entered the Pacific Business College, at San Francisco, 
in which institution he was graduated on the completion of the course. He 
ihen received a government position as inspector of revenue along the line 
between Mexico and the United States, from San Diego eastward to Fort 
Yuma, a distance of three hundred miles. This was an arduous and hazard- 
ous position in a desert country where smugglers were numerous and were 
often of a desperate character. For a year Mr. Brown acted in that ca- 
pacity and then resigned to become manager and overseer of a large ranch 
near Napa. He had spent a year there when his father purchased the La 
Jota ranch, near St. Helena, a tract of forty-four hundred acres, of which 
our subject purchased two hundred acres of rich meadow land, to which 
he gave his attention for three years. This place has since become a popular 
resort on account of its fine scenic location and the village of Anquin is 
now located there. 

Mr. Brown next turned his attention to the lumber business, in which 
he embarked at St. Helena, in 1873, there remaining for two years, but 
the enterprise proved a failure. He next associated himself with G. A. 
Meiggs in the lumber business in San Francisco, having charge of the red- 
wood branch of that gentleman's enormous business, and he filled that place 
successfully for four years, when the business was merged into that of 
the Meiggs Lumber & Ship Building Company, of which Mr. Brown be- 
came a stockholder. This, however, ended in failure and IMr. Brown thereby 
lost all that he had saved. Turning his attention to prospecting and min- 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 107 

ing in the vicinity of Tombstone, Arizona, after a year he was taken ill 
with fever and returned to California. When he had reco\ered his health 
he accepted a position as express messenger and baggage agent on a new 
railroad which was being builded southward from Mound House, its ulti- 
mate destination being Majave. The road had then been completed for only 
one hundred miles and was known as the Carson & Colorado Road, being 
now a part of the Southern Pacific system. Mr. Brown remained in the 
employ of the road for six years, and during the last four years of that time 
served as a conductor. He next received a government appointment as 
weigher in the refining department of the United States mint, at Carson 
City, remaining there for three years, after which he came to Seattle. 

Mr. Brown arrived in this city in 1893 ^-""^ spent one Reason on the 
Sound, engaged in shipping and towing, owning an interest in the tug 
Volga. He then returned to California and again entered the employ of 
the Wells-Fargo Express Company as local agent at Napa, filling that posi- 
tion for three years and in 1896 he came to Seattle. This was an arrange- 
ment whereby he was to temporarily relieve the agent in charge of the 
Seattle Land & Improvement Company, but the result was that he was elected 
to his present ofiice, that of manager of the business of the company. He 
is also the secretary of the compan}% This company was formed and in- 
corporated in 1888 by Thomas Ewing, of San Francisco, who at that time 
purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land and later interested other 
California capitalists. Other lands were purchased till their holdings com- 
prised five hundred acres, now known as the first, second and third additions. 
The old site of the town was known as Freeport and upon it was one of 
the largest lumber mills on the Sound, owned by Mr. Marshall. When the 
town plat was made the name was changed from Freeport to West Seattle. 
The first and second additions have been almost entirely sold out. The site 
includes most of the water front and extends from the elevator of the Seattle 
& San Francisco Railroad & Navigation Company to the Haller estate on 
ihe west side of the peninsula. The business of the company was first under 
the management of James H. Ewing, later of James H. Watson and in 1897 
Mr. Brown assumed the management. West Seattle is without question des- 
tinued at no distant day to become one of the most desirable and popular resi- 
dence portions of the city. Its site is one of the most beautiful and picturesque 
locations on the Sound, situated as it is on a peninsula, surrounded on three 
sides by water, and the land rising to a height sufficient to give an unob- 
structed and commanding view of land and water — a beautiful expanse of 
bay, forest and mountain, together with a panoramic view of Seattle, sit- 



103 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

uated like Rome of old upon seven hills. Since Mr. Brown has been in 
charge of the property interests he has taken measures to bring this desirable 
realty to the notice of the public and has disposed of a great deal of it. The 
company also owns the West Seattle ferr}-, which plies between this place 
and Seattle, and in his capacity of manager Mr. Brown also controls this. 
A cable road was built up the hill from the water front to the residence por- 
tion of West Seattle and arrangements made for cable car service across 
the railroad trestle to the city, but complications arose and the work was 
discontinued. Under the supervision, enterprise and untiring activity of Mr. 
Bro\\'n the business of the company has grown in volume and importance, 
and his efforts have contributed to the benefit of the city in marked degree. 

On the 2^th of December, 1885, Mr. Brown was united in marriage, in 
Carson City, to Jeanette Sutherland, w-ho was, born in Markleyville, Nevada, 
but her parents were natives of Edinboro, Scotland. They have one son, 
Stuart S., now a student in the high school. Mrs. Brown is a member of 
St. Mark's Episcopal church, at Seattle. Fraternally Mr. Brown is con- 
nected with the Order of Railway Conductors and with the Ancient Order 
of United Workmen, of wdiich he is a past master. In politics he is an un- 
swerving Republican and during his residence in Nevada took an active 
part in political work and since coming to this place he has served as a dele- 
gate to. various Republican conventions. Capable of controlling extensive 
business interests, he is accounted one of the representative business men of 
the northwest. 

ERASTUS C. HAWKINS. 

The name of Erastus Corrung Hawkins is a familiar one throughout 
engineering circles in this country and the fame of Air. Hawkins in the line 
of his chosen profession has also extended to Europe. The man that has 
bridged over space and practically annihilated time by his inventive genius 
deserves to be numbered among the benefactors of the race. This is an age 
of progress, when vast commercial transactions, involving millions of dol- 
lars, depend upon rapid transportation. The revolution in business that the 
past half century has witnessed has been brought about by means of the rail- 
roads. Through this means there has been opened to civilization a vast 
region with unlimited resources, and now Alaska is being reclaimed for the 
uses of the English-speaking race. No man engaged in the work of develop- 
ing this distant territory is more d'esen'ing of gratitude than Erastus Com- 
ing Hawkins, the engineer having in charge the construction of the railroad. 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 109 

one of the most difficult pieces of mechanical engineering that has ever been 
executed in the history of Ihe world. It is no wonder, therefore, that he has 
gained a national reputation or that Seattle is glad to number him among 
her business men and valued citizens. 

Mr. Hawkins arrived in this city in March, 1898, and has since -made 
it his headquarters while performing his important work. He was born in 
South liaven, Suffolk county, New York, September 8, i860. His father, 
Bartlett Tuttle Hawkins, was also a native of that state, where the family 
had resided from an early period in its development, the original American 
ancestors having come from Devonshire, England, in 1628. The family was 
represented in the Revolutionary war and also in the war of 181 2. Early in 
life the father was a seafaring man in the merchant marine service, sailing 
from Boston to South America. He married Clarissa Barteau, also a mem- 
ber of an old family, descended from the Dutch settlers on Long Island. 
They had four children, but Erastus C. Hawkins is the only member of the 
family on the Pacific coast. He acquired his early education in the public 
schools, and soon after the death of his father, which occurred wdien the son 
was nineteen years of age, he entered the engineering ofiice of Smith & 
Weston in Jersey City, having studied under noted instructors of the day. 
In January, 1880, he entered the office of Smith & Yv^'eston, of New York 
city and Jersey City, and was engaged in street impro\'ements and harbor 
work in the vicinity of New York until the spring of 18S3, when he suffered 
from malarial fever and went west to Denver on a two months' vacation. 

Mr. Hawkins was so w-ell pleased with the country that he decided to 
remain and became connected with railroad engineering in the mountains of 
Colorado. He was with the first train that reached Leadville from Breck- 
inridge, on the South Park system, being with that company from the time 
when the preliminarv- work was begun in the spring of 1883 until the road 
was completed and in operation to Leadville. The first camp was eleven 
thousand three hundred and eighty-tiiree feet high, on Fremont Pass. Mr. 
Hawkins was afterward engaged in other surveys in the vicinity of Monte- 
zuma, Graymont and Keystone. In the summer of 1S84 he was in the San 
Luis valley as a civil engineer on the large irrigation works, having charge 
of the construction of the Citizens' canal, under the famous T. C. Henry. 
This was an irrigation enterprise extending from Del Norte, and covering 
the western portion of the San Luis valley to the Mexican line. He was 
connected w'ith that work for a year and had some rough experience in that 
country, having ridden as many as eighty miles in a single day. Walter H. 
Graves, now in the government ser\ice, an expert irrigation engineer, had 



no REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

the supervision of the work. He is a man unequalled in that line, says Mr. 
Hawkins, and our subject appreciated the opportunity offered of being con- 
nected with such an experienced man during his first experience with irri- 
gation work of that character. This irrigation system is now owned by the 
Travelers' Insurance Company. 

From there Mr. Hawkins went to Wyoming, in January, 1885, and 
had charge of much irrigation work in the southern and central part of the 
btate until the financial panic was felt in that country, when, in 1887, all of 
the companies making improvements there went into bankruptcy, causing 
the suspension of all that kind of work. In March, 1887, Mr. Hawkins re- 
turned to Denver and made that city his headquarters until his arrival in 
Seattle. Under the appointment of Governor Alvah Adams he served as 
assistant state engineer and had charge of all irrigation investigation and 
hydrographic work under J. S. Greene, state engineer, also the compiling 
of all the reports and statistics on irrigation and the sources and extent of 
the water supply. Later Mr. Hawkins was engaged in making the United 
States geological survey under Major Powell from Texas north in the arid 
region, studying- up possibilities for an extensive reservoir system for the 
reclamation of the entire arid west. This gave him an exceptional oppor- 
tunity to inform himself concerning all the possibilities of that region. 
When the appropriation was exhausted he returned to Denver and was con- 
nected with \-arious irrigation works in Idaho and with public works there. 
In 1890 he was again connected with railroad work in the neighborhood of 
Golden, and was one of the first to use seventy-five-pound rails for the high- 
est roads. In 1891, in Idaho, he ser\^ed as chief engineer for the Payette 
Valley Canal Company, and in a similar capacity was connected with the 
construction of a canal in the Boise valley. In the spring of 1893 the coun- 
try again suffered from a financial panic and improvements were at a stand- 
still in that locality. 

Mr. Hawkins then took up the Amity canal enterprise, in the Arkansas 
valley of Colorado, which was backed by the strongest financiers of New 
Yorlc. In July, 1893, he started upon this work and planned the entire con- 
struction of what is now one of the greatest systems in the countr\'. There 
are five large reservoirs, having a capacity of four hundred and eighty-three 
thousand square feet of Vv-atcr. The building of this system was a work 
requiring an immense amount of study and inventive genius to cope with 
all the various hindrances arising from floods, waterspouts, quicksands and 
other material causes. The system is now known as the .\rkansas Valley 
Sugar Beet & Irrigated Land Company. It begins four miles west of La 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. m 

Junta and extends thirty miles east of the state hne into Kansas. It includes 
the Amity, the Buffalo and the Fort Lyons canals. Mr. Hawkins was con- 
nected with the work until its completion, except during tlie construction of 
some minor laterals. He finished the work in the spring of 1898 and was 
then called to New York on a cable message from London. 

Arriving in the eastern metropolis Mr. Hawkins was asked to under- 
take the construction of the railroad into the Klondike and assumed chargo 
of the work on the I5t!i of March of that year. After consulting with the 
originators of the project he at once started west, and was directed to Port- 
land, but after making a thorough investigation as far north as Vancouver 
he decided to make Seattle his headquarters. On the 5th of April he em- 
barked on the Queen to make personal investigation of the ground, as no 
reliable information could be obtained on which he could base the possibilities 
of the work, other than the wild tales of prospectors. His report was favor- 
able, and at 10:30 p. m. on the night of May 17th he received word that the 
construction would be undertaken. At that time the company had not a 
dollar's worth of property here, but he began making the necessary' pur- 
chases of materials the following morning, as his authority was unlimited. 
The money was furnished and deposited here in his ov\'n name without bond 
of any kind, and his written authority consisted of but four lines, giving 
him power to do all the work necessary for the completion of the road. 
Owing to the danger and uncertainty no contractor would engage in the 
undertaking, and so the work in all its phases was carried on by the com- 
pany, a subsidiaiy company being formed for the purpose, known as the 
Pacific Contract Compan}', of which Mr. Hawkins held the position of chief 
engineer and was also chief engineer of the railroad company and engineer 
for the trustees. 

On the 28th of May, 1898, actual work was begun at Skagway, and 
in August, 1900, the road was completed into \\'hite Horse. The most 
difficult part of the work was from Skagway up to the summit of White Pass, 
which was reached February 18, 1899. The engineers and workmen were 
often suspended by ropes while performing their labor, nearly all of which 
was hea\y rock work and much of which had to be done in places that were 
absolutely inaccessible except by the means mentioned. By the 6th of July 
tiie track was laid and trains were in operation to Lake Bennett, where over 
one thousand dollars' worth of tickets were sold before rails or locomotive 
were in sight. From the start the work progressed continuously night and 
day, notwithstanding a stampede of eight hundred men at the time of the 
Atlin excitement, until Bennett was reached, in July, 1899. From there on 



112 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

the work was let to M. J-. Heiiey, who had previously been connected with 
the work of constructing the hne, and then completed it to White Horse. 
Mr. Hawkins was chief engineer and general manager until the road was 
completed and in good working order, and in the purchase of materials and 
supplies handled millions of dollars for the company. Being impressed with 
the natural resources of Seattle and a firm belie\-er in the future of the city, 
he abandoned the idea of returning to Denver and has cast in his lot with 
the residents of this city. He purchased the E. O. Graves place, at No. 1120 
Jefferson avenue, and has since remodeled the house, making it an attractive 
residence. 

In Denver, in 1885, Mr. Hawkins was united in marriage to Miss 
Emma, daughter of Charles Sullivan, of New York, and they have five chil- 
dren, three sons and two daughters : Gilberta, Mason, Clarissa, Rufus and 
Howard. The family attend St. Mark's church, of which Mrs. Hawkins is 
a member. In his political views Mr. Hawkins is a Republican. Comment 
on his life work would be superfluous. It speaks for itself. His labors in 
many sections of the country are matters of record and of history and much 
has been written about the construction of the railroad in Alaska under his 
sui)er\ision. He has certainly attained well merited fame and deserves praise 
and honor for \\hat he has accomplished in a work of vast benefit to the 
world. 

EDWARD CUDIHEE. 

Edward Cudihee, of Seattle, is an honored citizen in whom the people 
have manifested their confidence by electing him to the posiLion of sheriff' of 
King county. He is now discharging the duties of that office with marked 
promptness and fidelity, and with such men at the head of public affairs a 
community may feel assured that, its interests will be administered with the 
strictest honesty and after the most approved business methods. 

A native of the Empire state, Mr. Cudihee was born in Rochester on 
the 26th of Januar}', 1853, and is of Irish ancestry. His father, Daniel 
Cudihee, was born in the town of Callan, county of Kilkenny, Ireland, but 
in 1826, when eighteen years of age. he emigrated to America, taking up 
his abode in Rochester, New York. ' In that city he was married to Miss 
Anna Comeford, also, a native of the Emerald Isle. During the early years 
of his life Mr. Cudihee followed the stone-mason's trade, but later became 
a farmer, and is now living in quiet retirement at his home in Jackson, Mich- 
igan. His wife was called to her final rest in 1900. at the age of seventy-four. 





(^^^C^^-e^ ^f-?^/^ yf/Z-^^^^^^^ 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 113 

)ears. This worthy couple became tlie parents of ten chikh-en, six of whom 
are now hving, and one son, Jolm Cu(Hliee, has recently removed from Seattle 
to Alaska. 

Edward Cndihee received his education in the public school of Orleans 
county. New York, and in early life learned the stone-mason's trade of his 
father. After following- that occupation for a time he turned his attention 
to agricultural pursuits, and later embarked in the mercantile business. In 
March, 1889, he came to Seattle, Washington, and soon afterward became 
an active and valued member of the police force. He discharged the duties 
of that office without fear or favor, and was instrumental in ridding the 
county of many of its notorious law breakers, but at the same time he is a 
kind-hearted man and no prisoner in his charge has ever had reason to com- 
plain of ill treatment. In the year 1900 he was the choice of his party for 
the ofifice of sheriff of King county, and on the 6th of November, following, 
was elected to that position by a majority of two thousand tix hundred and 
five votes, running far ahead of his ticket, and only one other Democrat was 
successful at that election. In the discharge of the duties of this important 
office he has manifested the same loyal spirit which has characterized his 
entire life, and he commands the respect of his fellow men by his sterling 
worth. Prior to his removal to Seattle he was for six years a member of the 
police force in Colorado, aitd for a portion of that time was also chief of 
;.olice, having been elected to that position by the vote of the people. 

Mr. Cudihee is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of 
Elks and also of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He is a man of 
strong mentality, keen discernment, great tact and resolute purpose, and is 
therefore well fitted for the position which he no\\- so ably fills. 

RICHARD WINSOR. 

"Biography," said Carlyle, "is the most universally profitable and in- 
teresting of all studies." The purpose of biography is not merely to preserve 
a written record of individuals ; it has a higher purpose, in furnishing to the 
young of this and future generations examples worthy of emulation, to set 
before them lessons for guidance, to awaken in them desire for honorable 
success, and to inspire them with the thought that man controls his own 
destiny and makes of his life what he will. For this reason biography should 
treat of the lives of those whose worth, socially, morally and intellectually, 
commands the unequivocal respect of the public, which is a discriminating fac- 
tor and invariably distinguishes the ring of the true metal from the disson- 



114 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

ance of the baser. In the possession of admirable quahties of mind and heart, 
in holding marked precedence as a distinguished member of the legal profes- 
sion, and in being a man of high attainments and distinct executive ability, 
Mr. Winsor challenges attention as one distinctively eligible for representa- 
tion in this compilation, while his earnest and upright career, his fine ge:ieal- 
ogical record and his position as a man of affairs, but serve to render the more 
consonant an epitome of his life histoi"y in this connection. 

Judge Winsor comes of fine old English stock and is himself a native of 
the dominion of Canada, having been born in Middlesex county, province of 
Ontario, on the 25th of April, 1839, the son of Richard Winsor, Sr., who 
was bom in London, England, and who was a contractor and builder by 
vocation. He was the first of the family to come to America, and after lo- 
cating in Canada he erected many buildings of pretentious order, notably in 
the little city of London, Ontario. He married Elizabeth Longworth, and 
of their nine children the subject of this review was the eldest and is one 
of the seven who are living at the present time. In 1856 the family re- 
moved to Huron county, Michigan, where the father became a pioneer, tak- 
ing up a tract of one hundred and sixty acres of land on Lighthouse bay. 
There he erected a dwelling of hewed logs, and this primitive domicile be- 
came the family home. During the summer seasons Richard Winsor, Sr., 
gave his attention to his trade in the city of Detroit, while in the winters 
he worked assiduously in the clearing and improving of his land. While 
going from Huron City to his home, on the 13th of April, i860, the boat 
in which he was making the trip was capsized and both he and his son John 
were drowned. The subject of this sketch had not attained his legal ma- 
jority at the time, but this sad fatality rendered it necessary for him to as- 
<iume to a very large extent the responsibility of managing the affairs of 
the farm and providing for the maintainance of the family. Judge Winsor 
has never been known to flinch from an ordeal or to neglect the calls of duty, 
and the mettle of the man was clearly shown when the grave responsibilities 
were thus forced upon him when but twenty years of age. Before proceed- 
ing farther in narration of the personal career of our subject, it may be well 
to advert somewhat in detail to his ancestral histor}'. His grandfather, who 
likewise bore the name of Richard Winsor, was a native of Devonshire, Eng- 
land, and was an architect by profession. He had charge of the building 
operations of the Duke of Kent, father of the late lamented Queen Victoria, 
and was a man of no slight distinction. The maternal grandfather was 
Captain John Longworth, of the British army, and it is a matter of record 
that he served under the Duke of Wellington in the Peninsular war, his 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 115 

record for gallantry being such that he was made the recipient of several 
medals in token and recognition of his valiant services. He emigrated to 
Canada in 1830 and was there engaged in the construction of many puljlic 
buildings and works, passing the remainder of his life in the dominion and 
living to attain the patriarchal age of nearly ninety- four years. His death 
occurred on the 17th of January, 1883. His first wife, the grandmother 
of our subject, bore the maiden name of Elizabeth Bruce, and her paternal 
lineage is traced in a most definite way over a period of five centuries in 
Scotland, the family being the same as that of the renowned patriot, Robert 
Bruce. 

Richard Winsor, of this sketch, was seventeen years of age at the time 
when the family removed from Ontario to the state of Michigan, and his 
early education had been secured in the excellent schools of his native 
province. In 1859 the family home was destroyed by fire, while he was 
absent in Huron City, where he had employment, and after this disaster, 
which was followed by the still greater one, in the loss of the husband and 
father, the family removed to Huron City, and our subject purchased in that 
vicinity a tract of land, which he cleared and improved, placing the same 
under cultivation and thus managing to keep the family together until the 
younger children w'ere able to care for themselves. In the midst of all the 
responsibilities and labors which thus fell to his portion. Judge Winsor found 
time to continue his technical study and reading, having determined to pre- 
pare himself for the legal profession and holding no obstacle as insuperable. 
He prosecuted his legal studies under the preceptorship of John Divine, of 
Lexington, Michigan, and in 1867 he was admitted to practice before the 
state courts, having been previously in practice in the circuit courts. In 
December of the year mentioned he removed to Port Austin, where the 
coimty-seat of Huron county was then established, and there he entered vig- 
orously upon the practice of his profession, in which he soon attained an 
excellent reputation and a representative clientage, his abilities and fidelity 
to the cause of his clients gaining him deserved recognition. He was one 
of the most progressive and public-spirited citizens of his county and was 
one of the prime factors in securing the entrance of railroad and telegraph 
lines in that section of the state. He eventually admitted to partnership in his 
legal business Horace G. Snover, ex-member of congress from the tenth dis- 
trict of Michigan, and the two gentlemen erected a fine building in Port Austin 
and there established a successful banking business, also carrying on an 
extensive insurance business and controlling the largest law pratice in that 
section of the Peninsular state. Judge Winsor also made quite extensive 



ii6 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

in\estments in land, engaging in farming operations and the raising of live 
stock, and becoming also heavily interested in the lumbering industry and 
in 'the salt business, his interests in these lines becoming of wide scope and 
importance, and all being wisely handled, since his executive ability and 
infinite capacity for details proved equal to all emergencies. Judge Winsor 
naturally took a deep interest in public afifairs, and his prominence in po- 
litical circles indicated his strength as an advocate of the cause which he 
espoused, that of the Republican party. In 1862, when but twenty-three 
years of age, he was elected to represent his district in the lower house of 
the state legislature, was re-elected in 1864, dclining the renomination in 
1866. In the following year he was elected a member of constitutional con- 
vention of ^Michigan, this being one of the most notable assemblies of talented 
men ever called together in that commonwealth and the work accomplished 
being one that reflects perpetual credit upon those participating and also 
upon the state itself. In the fall of 1868 Judge Winsor was given a still high- 
er mark of popular confidence and esteem, being elected to the state senate, 
in which he served during the sessions of the two ensuing winters. In 1880 
the senatorial honors were again conferred upon him, his election being com- 
passed by a majority of three thousand three hundred votes. In the session 
of 1882 he introduced the bill for the organization of the twenty-sixth judi- 
cial circuit and was also one of the prime movers in securing the extra session 
of the legislature in order to devise ways and means for the relief of the 
suffers from the great fire in Huron, Sanilac and Tuscola counties, the need 
for prompt assistance being imperative. For twenty-five consecutive years 
Judge Winsor was chairman of the Republican county central committee of 
Huron county, and no man has ever wielded a more potent or beneficial influ- 
ence in the political affairs of that locality than he. while for many years he 
was also a member of the state central committee, though he often ser\'ed in 
this capacity at a sacrifice of his personal interests. 

In the year 1889 Judge Winsor made a change of location, leaving the 
^tate which had so long been his home and in which he had attained dis- 
tinguished honors, and came to Seattle, the change being prompted liy the 
fact that his health had become much impaired, making it necessary for him 
to seek different climatic environment. His son had previously located in 
Seattle, and this fact determined his choice to a degree also. He has made 
extensive investments in this locality, but still retained valuable property 
interests in Michigan until 1901, when he disposed of the major portion of his 
holdings there. The Judge has become thoroughly identified with the indus- 
trial and professional life of Seattle and has shown his confidence in the future 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 117 

of the state by investing in real estate upon a quite extensive scale. For about 
two years after his arri\-al he gave his attention principally to looking after 
his investments, in the meanwhile thoroughly recuperating his physical ener- 
gies under the influences of the gracious climate of the state, and he then 
entered upon the general pratice of his profession and has attained prece- 
dence as one of the leading members of the bar of his adopted state. He 
has one of the few law libraries that escaped in its entirety from destruction 
by the great fire which swept the city in 1889, and the same is one of the 
best private collections of the sort in this section of the Union. The Judge 
has avoided as far as possible practice in the criminal courts, but his powers 
in this line have become so well known that he has occasionally been drawn 
into such cases, his sympathy for and willing defense of the oppressed and 
downtrodden leading him to spare neither time nor personal interests when 
he could aid those thus afflicted and insure the ends of justice. Though he 
w-as counsel and advocate in many of the most important criminal cases in 
Michigan during the long years of his residence there, he is enlisted in this 
service in Seattle only when strongly importuned or when his sympathies 
are appealed to in the righting of wrongs. Since locating in Seattle Judge 
Winsor has continued to maintain a lively interest in public affairs, and 
keenly discerning the drift of political matters, he could not but appreciate 
the trend toward the development of political favoritism in permitting the 
accumulation of large property interests in the hands of a favored few, and 
thus, in the fall of 1892, he engaged actively in the campaign work as an 
advocate of the principles of the People's party, also taking part in the cam- 
paign in Oregon at the time of the candidacy of Governor Penoyer. He 
entered into a joint debate with Congressman Tong in the city of Hills- 
boro, and his able and forcible marshalling of facts and arguments made 
his speech one of the most potent in results in all that were delivered dur- 
ing that campaign. He is a ready, forceful and eloquent speaker, his ut- 
terances bearing the marks of absolute sincerity and honesty, and he has 
done most effective service on the political rostrum and also through able 
contributions to the newspaper press and through the circulation of cam- 
paign documents written by him. Thirty thousand copies of a pamphlet 
written by him on the financial question were published and circulated in 
1892, and proved most effective in result by reason of his masterful sum- 
ming up of the case. He has been importuned to accept nomination for 
offices of distinct trust and responsibility in the state, among the most not- 
able overtures being that made in 1896, when he was urged to accept nomina- 
tion for the office of associate justice of the supreme court of the state, an 



Ii8 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

lionor which he felt obliged to decline by reason of the condition of his 
health at the time. In the winter of 1S97, unknown to himself, his name 
was prominently brought forward in connection with nomination for the 
United States senate. He was a member of the committee which framed 
the present municipal charter of the city of Seattle, and his interest in all 
that concerns the welfare of his home city and state is vital and insistent. 
He has been a member of the board of regents of the state university since 
1897, and the cause of education finds in him a warm friend. When twen- 
ty-three ji'ears of age the Judge was initiated into the mysteries of the time- 
honored Masonic fraternity, and has advanced to the degree of the Scottish 
Rite. His religious faith is that of the Unitarian church, and he has served 
as a member of the board of trustees of the church in Seattle. In Seattle 
our subject has acquired valuable residence properties, including his own 
attractive home, at the corner of Sixth avenue and Lenora street, and his 
summer home is located across the Sound, in Kitsap county, where he has 
acquired a large tract of land. 

In the city of Lansing, Michigan, on the 23d of June, 1863, Judge 
\Vinsor was united in marriage to Miss Martha Turner, who -was born in 
Ingham county, that state, the daughter of John and Rebecca (Hayner) 
Turner, and they are the parents of four sons and one daughter, namely : 
Richard, Jr., who is engaged in the mercantile business in Kitsap county; 
Amos T., who is superintendent of construction at the state university; 
Irwin B., who is engaged in the steamship supply business in Seattle; Bessie 
L., who has been secretary of the Federation of Women's Clubs in the state 
from the time of its organization; and Horace G., who is attending the state 
university. 

GENERAL SIMON 11. PRESTON. 

Far removed from the place of his birth is the home of General Simon 
Manly Preston. He is a native of Vermont, his birth having occurred in 
Strafford on the 14th of April, 1821, and he comes of English ancestry. 
His Grandfather, Alexander Preston, settled at Strafford, in 1780, married 
Mary Durgan and died in 1816, but she long survived him and reached a 
very advanced age. By profession he was a teacher and kept a private 
school, which he capably conducted, being a man of intelligence and ability. 
His wife was identified with the Society of Friends. Warner Preston, the 
father of General Preston, was born at Strafford. Vermont, in 1799, and mar- 
ried Esther Brown, a native of his own town and a daughter of Absalom and 
Abigal (Bean) Brown. The father was a valued member of the Freewill 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 119 

Baptist churcli, being a charter member of the congregation at Strafford. 
They had nine children and reared to maturity seven of this number, of 
whom four are yet living. The father departed this life in 1871 at the age 
of seventy-two years and his good wife passed away in 1855. 

General Preston is the only member of the family living in Washing- 
ton. He was educated in Norwich University, a military school in which 
he was graduated in 1845 and in addition to his other studies he acquired 
i. thorough knowledge of military tactics and drill. Subsequently he was 
for two years professor of military- drill and tactics in that school and his 
teaching also included seven years elsewhere spent. On the expiration of 
that period he engaged in civil engineering in Illinois. In 1850 he removed 
to Chicago and later to Rockford, that state, where he resided for fifteen 
years, engaged in the practice of his profession — surveying for the location 
of railroads and engineering their construction. 

In 1861, in answer to President Lincoln's call for volunteers to put 
down the rebellion of the slaveholders in the south, he tendered his services 
to his countr}' and was mustered in as a member of the Fifteenth Regi- 
ment, Illinois Volunteer Infantiy. He became a first lieutenant and served 
as quartermaster. x\fter thirty days with his regiment he was appointed 
by the president assistant adjutant general of volunteers, with the rank of 
captain, and served on the staffs of Generals Hulbert, Halleck and Wright. 
In 1864 he received a commission as colonel of the Fifty-eighth United 
States Colored troops, which was a new regiment, and Colonel Preston toui-. 
just pride in making them proficient in drill, as a result of which the com- 
mand won considerable renown. Such are the eminent services that our 
subject rendered his country, in reward for which he was breveted brigadier- 
general, and as such was mustered out of service on the 30th of April, 1S66. 
After the close of the war General Preston settled at Natchez, ilissi'^ 
sippi, and resumed his profession of civil engineering. He was appointed 
by President Grant collector of internal revenue, which office he very satis- 
factorily filled for four years. Having resided eight years in Mississippi 
he decided to return north, and for some time thereafter was engaged in 
building railroads in Iowa and Kansas. He had charge of the construc- 
tion of the eastern branch of the Iowa Central Railway and that position 
claimed his attention until 1890, in which year he came to Seattle to re- 
side. He had charge of the Seattle National Bank building and has been 
otherwise identified with business affairs here. He was receiver for the 
Hopkins property and was auditor in the reconstruction of the Yeslerway and 
Tackson Street railroads. 



120 REPRESENTATIVE CTITZENS OF 

On the 1 2th of December, 1848, occurred the marriage of General Pres- 
ton to Miss Martha Plarriet Sargent, a native of New Hampshire and a 
daughter of Captain Jacob and Pattie (Webster) Sargent. They were of 
Jmglish ancestry and were early settlers in Massachusetts. ]\lrs. Preston, 
the only daughter in a family of eight children, was educated in a female 
seminar)- of her native state and for three years prior to her marriage was 
a successful teacher in Xorth Carolina. General Preston and wife have the 
following named children: Edward L., who is a civil engineer on the Chi- 
cago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad and resides in the state of Missouri; 
Harold, who is a prominent member of the bar of Washington and candi- 
ilate of his party for the office of United States senator; Clarence S., who 
is a practicing attorney of Seattle; and Alice Pauline, the only daughter, 
who is the wife of (General E. M. Carr, an eminent member of the Seattle 
bar. 

Mrs. Preston is a valued member of the Congregational church. She 
says that her part in the great Civil war was in the care of their children 
through that period of excitement and danger and a part of the time she 
was in camp with her husband. That she performed her part w-ell is evi- 
denced by the notable family she has reared, her children all being an honor 
to her name. The General is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic 
and has been a lifelong Republican, unfaltering in his advocacy of the party 
platform. His three sons have also followed in the political footsteps of 
their father. Both the General and his wife enjoy the esteem of all who 
know them and the respect of a large number of friends. They have a 
beautiful home in which to spend the evening of their days and are most 
worthy representatives of Seattle. The General is as true and loyal to his 
country in all matters pertaining to her welfare and protection as he was in 
the dark hours of peril when he followed the starry banner of the nation upon 
the battle fields of the south. 

ALOXZO COSTILLO BOWMAN. 

The gentleman above mentioned is serving as United States commis- 
sioner for the district of Washington. He was born in Cass county, ]\Iis- 
souri, March 24, 1859. and is of English ancestr}'. His father, James Har- 
".•e)' Bowman, was born in the state of Pennsylvania and now resides in Seat- 
tle in the seventy-sixth year of his age. He married Miss Amanda Fuller, 
a lady of French lineage, although the family has been represented in Amer- 
ica through manv generations. The father of our subject served his country 




U;J^v/Q-t>-Ur^>^»^-^3^'i^ 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 121 

valiantly in the Civil war as a defender of the Union, for three and a 
half years, becoming a member of the Eleventh Kansas Cavalry, but 
notwithstanding the fact that he was in many battles and often in the thickest 
of the fight he escaped wounds and capture and at the cessation of hostilities 
received an honorable discharge. In the family were three children : C. E- 
Bowman, a prominent member of the Seattle bar; Laura, the wife of A. 
Furry, also of this city, and Alonzo C. 

During his early boyhood our subject was taken by his parents to Kan- 
sas and in the public schools of that state pursued his education and entered 
upon his business career in the newspaper field, in Burton. He also became 
the official stenographer for that district, filling the position for three and 
a half years, during which time he took up the study of law, using his leisure 
hours for the mastery of the principles of jurisprudence. He was there ad- 
mitted to the bar, but believing the business opportunities of the Mississippi 
valley did not equal those of the Pacific coast he came to the northwest, set- 
tling in Seattle, on the 15th of January, 1882, since which time he has been 
largely engaged in stenographic work, being an expert in that line, having 
remarkable speed, facility and accuracy. He is now a member of the firm 
of Bowman, Bolster & Eaton, law stenographers, doing the principal busi- 
ness in their line in Seattle. 

In 1880 Mr. Bowman was united in marriage to Miss Georgia Mat- 
tliews, who was born in the state of Mississippi and is descended from an 
old New England family. Unto them have been boni two children : Otha 
C. and Fleta C. Theirs is one of the delightful homes of Seattle, celebrated 
for its gracious hospitality and a favorite resort with their many friends. 
Mr. Bowman is a Republican in his political views and is a very prominent 
Mason, having taken all of the degrees of the York Rite and all of the 
Scottish Rite up to and including the thirty-second. He is also a member 
of the Mystic Shrine and is grand chancellor of the grand lodge of Wash- 
ington of the Knights of Pythias. He is likewise identified with the Benevo- 
lent and Protective Order of Elks and is accounted a valued representative 
of these various organizations. 

JAMES THEODORE RONALD. 

One of the prominent attorneys of Seattle and member of the firm 
of Ballinger, Ronald & Battle, has attained to a position of distinction as a 
representative of the legal fraternity and his reputation extends through- 
out the state of Washington. He was born at Caledonia, Washington 



122 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

county, Missouri, on the 8th of April, 1855, and is descended from Lord 
Ronald, the Scottish chieftain wIk) fought under Bruce and was prominent 
in regaining the liberty of Scotland. The great-grandfather of our subject 
was Andrew Ronald, who was born in the land of hills and heather, and is 
a son of the last Lord Ronald. He emigrated to Virginia and became a 
noted lawyer, for a time serving as counsel for the crown prior to the Revo- 
lutionary war. He was the progenitor of the family in this country and 
in his profession gained marked prominence. He was associated with Pat- 
rick Henry in a number of cases and was also his opponent in cases of great 
imoortance. The various generations of the family have been born in Vir- 
ginia up to the time of Onslow G. Ronald, our subject's father. Andrew 
Ronald, the grandfather of our subject, was a devout member of the Meth- 
odist church and an educated Christian gentleman of the most admirable 
character. He had great love for liberty and although reared amid slavery 
he was never a slave owner, his love for the whole human race being too 
great for that. He attained the age of seventy-five years and died in Wash- 
ington county, Missouri, where he had emigrated with his family a few 
years before. His son, Onslow Gemmel Ronald, was born in \'irginia on 
ihe 22nd of February, 1822, and was educated in Missouri. He married 
Miss Amanda Carson, of Virginia, who was descended from the same an- 
cestry as Kit Carson, the renowned mountain guide and Indian fighter. 
Mr. Ronald acquired a farm in Washington county, where he led an indus- 
trious and honorable life and there his children were born and reared. His 
farm comprised two hundred and sixty-six acres of land and is still owned 
by our subject and his brothers and sisters. The mother died there at the 
age of forty-six years, while the father passed away at the age of seventy. 
He was one of the substantial pioneer citizens of that portion of Missouri, 
and was for many }ears one of the most prominent and devout members of 
the Methodist church. In their family were nine children and by a sec- 
ond marriage the father had five more children. 

James T. Ronald was reared upon the old homesteail and attended the 
public schools, also pursuing his studies in the seminary of his native town. 
In 1873 he entered the State Normal School at Kirksville, where he com- 
pleted a three years" course in two years, being graduated in June. 1875. 
Immediately afterward he started for the Pacific coast, arriving in Sacra- 
inento, California, on the 26th of July, \silh just ten centr, in his pocket. 
With this he bought three postage stam])s. for which he then jmid three 
cents each. One was used on a letter to his father, another on a letter to his 
■sweetheart, the third he saved to write to her again. A week later he secured 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 123 

a small school in the valley, but on account of his inexperience he was con- 
sidered incapable, and after one term was not again employed. He then 
removed to Plumas count}' and there \\as more successful in his educational 
work and demonstrated his ability to impart clearly and concisely to others 
the knowledge he had acquired. He taught the Snake Lake \^nlley school, 
later was employed as principal of the Greenville school, and acceptably 
lilled that position for three years, so that his efforts at pedagogy 
proved successful. On the 4th of July, 1876, he borrowed a copy of 
Blackstone from Judge E. T. Hogan, of Quincy, California, and earnestly 
began the study of law, improving every leisure moment before and after 
school, even studying well into the night. He continued his teaching and 
the study of law until 1880, when he was called to take charge as principal 
of the Lincoln Grammar School, at Lincoln, California, remaining at that 
place for two years. During his vacation in the summer of 1881 he spent 
five weeks in the law office of Judge Cheney and Honorable Edward Bruner 
at Sacramento. On the 27th of ]\Iay, 1882, he was admitted to the b?.r jjy 
the superior court of Placer county, California. 

On the 26th of February, 1877, Mr. Ronald had been happily married 
to ^liss Rhoda M. Coe. She was born in Knox county, Missouri, the daugh- 
ter of Jamison Coe, a repiesentative of an old Virginia family of great 
Aorth. She was the girl he had left in Missouri when he came to California, 
:md tlie marriage was a very happy one, in every way congenial. She had 
been his schoolmate in childhood and came to California to become his wife. 
The eldest daughter, Norma Vane, now a beautiful young lady, was born 
at Greenville. Plumas county, California, and two other daughters, Eva 
■f.nd Mabel, have been added to the family in Seattle. W'lile p-.u'suing his 
law studies Mr. Ronald had been studying the several place5> on the Pacific 
coast in search of a new field in which to engage in the practice of his pro- 
fession, and finally gave Seattle the preference, a choice which he has since 
iiad no cause to regret, notwithstanding that the beginning was anything 
but auspicious. He arrived in Seattle on the 26th of July. 1882. accom- 
panied by his wife and little daughter, and bringing with him his household 
effects and four hundred and eighty dollars in money. The city- then con- 
tained a population of about five thousand, including a large number of law- 
yers. Mr. Ronald had no experience, but he hung out his shingle and 
awaited business, but two months passed before any came. In that time his 
funds had become largely exhausted, but he sold some real estate on com- 
mission in order to pro\-ide his family with the necessaries of life. He 
contracted fen- two lots in the woods br.ck of Lake L^nion. on wli'ch he built 



124 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

a three-room house. He was to pay for this land and house by installments 
of twenty dollars per month, and a grocer of the city allowed him to pur- 
chase some necessary supplies on credit. He cleared the lots, painted and pa- 
pered his little home, dug his own well and in this honorable and praiseworthy 
way provided for his wife and family. .\lr. Ronald has ever since remem- 
bered with the greatest gratitude the gentleman who trusted him for the 
few groceries that they so much needed and when the panic came on in which 
so many of the business men of Seattle were forced to the wall Mr. Ronald 
proffered his services to his kind friend, piloted his benefactor through the 
trying time in safety and has ever since cheerfully given him his legal advice 
free and they have ever been the warmest of friends since those early days 
when Mr. Ronald was attempting to get a start here. In August, 1883, Mr. 
Ronald was appointed deputy prosecuting attorney of King county at a salary 
of twenty dollars per month. The town was then over-run with criminal char- 
acters and a lamentable state .of affairs prevailed. Feeling that this was 
his opportunity to lay the foundation for his future success, j\Ir. Ronald 
applied himself to gaining a thorough understanding of the criminal code of 
Washington and began such a campaign against law-breakers as had not 
been before experienced in the county, with the result that the city was great- 
ly benefited and fines to the amount of five thousand dollars were col- 
lected during his first year and put into the school funds. In this suc- 
cessful work Mr. Ronald laid the foundation of his reputation as a suc- 
cessful and capable lawyer and in the fall of 1884 he was the nominee of 
the Democratic party for the office of prosecuting attorney for the district 
comprising the counties of King, Kitsap and Snohomish and was elected 
with a majority of one thousand one hundred and fifty-three votes in a 
district formerly giving a Republican majority of twelve hundred. He com- 
pleted his term of two years in such a satisfactory manner that he was re- 
elected in 1886 with an increased majority of one thousand seven hundred 
and ninety-three. He filled the position until March 4, 1889, when he re- 
tired from office, having discharged its duties with honor and distinction. 
In 1886 he took in as a partner Mr. S. H. Piles and the firm of Ronald & 
Piles conducted a general practice in all the courts of the state, meeting 
with the most flattering success. In 1892 Mr. Ronald's Democratic friends 
prevailed on him to permit his name to be used in connection with the can- 
didacy for mayor of the city. To this he reluctantly consented and was 
elected by a very large majority and while chief executive of the city he 
put forth e\-ery effort to make his administration one that would be bene- 
ficial and satisfactory to all law-abiding citizens. Along many lines he ad- 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 125 

vanced the interests of Seattle. The city's debt was reduced fifty-eight thou- 
sand dollars and the city's credit greatly improved. In 1894 his term ex- 
pired. In 1900 he was requested by his party to accept the nomination as 
a candidate for the United States congress, and although he did not desire 
this position, and it was only at the solicitation of prominent members of 
the party that he accepted, he made a vigorous canvass and ran far ahead of 
his ticket, receiving twenty-five hundred more votes than Mr. Bryan and 
carried his own city and county. While Mr. Ronald has never desired office, 
he has always taken an active part in politics, his influence carrying weight 
in the councils of his party while his efforts have been effective in promoting 
its growth and success. As the years have passed Mr. Ronald has made 
judicious investments in property, acquiring much valuable realty. He is 
president of the Una Mining Company, president of the xYorth Star Min- 
ing Company and also of the Hester Mining Company, the properties of all 
of which are now being rapidly developed with prospects of soon returning 
a good income to the owners. Mr. Ronald has afifiliated with the Independ- 
ent Order of Odd Fellows for about twenty years, during which time he 
has filled all of the offices in its branches. He is also a member of the An- 
cient Order of United Workmen and of the Woodmen of the World, while 
his wife and daughters are valued members of the Grace Methodist Episco- 
pal church, and with them he attends its services. They now have a beauti- 
ful home in Seattle and are most highly respected there, having a large 
circle of friends. 

OLIVER H. P. LaFARGE. 

The ancestry of Oliver H. P. LaFarge as far back as their history can 
be traced in the annals of America are noted for the sterling traits of char- 
acter which mark the valuable citizen of this great republic. At all times 
they have been ready to uphold righteous and just laws, to promote the 
welfare of the land of their nativity, and, if needful, to lay down their lives 
on the altar of her liberty and maintenance. 

Mr. LaFarge was born in Rhode Island, on the loth of July, 1869, and 
is of French and English ancestry, who were among the early settlers of 
Massachusetts and were active participants in all the early history of the 
country. His paternal grandfather, John LaFarge, was born in France, but 
in 1806 eimgrated to the new world, taking up his abode in New York city, 
where he became well and prominently known as a merchant and banker. 
His death occurred in that city at the age of seventy-five years. His son, 



126 REPRESENTATIVE CTTIZEXS OF 

John LaFarge, claimed the Empire city as the place of his nativity and he 
became an eminent artist, standing at tlie head of the profession in America. 
His brotlier, Alphonse LaFarge, served as colonel of a New York regiment of 
volunteers during the Civil war. The mother of our subject bore the maiden 
name of Margaret Perry, and she is a native of Newport, Rhode Island. Her 
ancestors came to America as early as 1634, and her great-grandfather, Chris- 
topher Raymond Pern,', was an active participant in the colonial struggle for 
independence. She is a granddaughter of Commodore Perrj', of the United 
States navy, whose fame goes down in history as the hero of Perry's victory, 
while her granduncle. Commodore Matthew C. Perry, opened by treaty the 
ports of Japan to this country. ]VIr. and Mrs. John LaFarge, the parents 
of our subject, are still living in New York city, the father having attained 
the age of sixty-five years, while the mother is sixty-one. He has the honor 
of being president of the Academy of Designe and is an officer in the Legion 
of Honor, of France. They became the parents of nine children, seven of 
wliom are still living. 

Oliver H. P. LaFarge, the immediate subject of this review, is a grad- 
uate uf the School of Mines of Columbia University, of New York, of the 
class of 1891, and, and after completing his studies he engaged in the 
profession of engineering, in the employ of the Metropolitan Street Rail- 
way Company, of New York city, and expert on fire proof construc- 
tion for the New York Fire Underwriters' Tariff Association. In 1898 
he made a business trip to Alaska, during which he visited Seattle, and be- 
coming convinced of the great future which lay before this city he decided 
to make it his future place of abode. In 1900 the present firm of Bond & 
LaFarge was organized for the purpose of doing a general real-estate and 
insurance business. They have made many investments in both city and coun- 
try property, and this enterprising firm now occupy a leading position in the 
business circles of Seattle. JMr. LaFarge is a man of business capacity and 
resourceful ability, his resolute purpose and keen discrimination enabling 
him to carr\- forward to successful completion whatever he undertakes, and 
he has gained for himself an emiable reputation in social and business cir- 
cles. He is a Republican in his political preferences. 

FRANCIS M. GUYE. 

From an early period Francis ^I. Guye has been identified with the 
history of the Pacific coast, being a pioneer of California, Oregon and Wash- 
ington, and he has done efficient service in developing the mineral resources 




FRAHCIS M. GUYE 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 127 

of this commonwealth. His birth occurred in Greene county, Indiana, on the 
7th of January, 1833, and he is of Scotcli and Enghsh descent. His ancestors 
were among the early settlers of Virginia and Tennessee, and were active 
participants in the early history of the colonies and in the Revolutionary 
war. Samuel Guye, the father of our subject, was born in Tennessee, and 
was there married to Miss Susanna Bidwell, a native of Virginia and a 
member of a prominent old family of that state. The mother was called 
to her final rest at the comparatively early age of forty years, and Mr. Guye 
was a second time married, becoming the father of ten children, five sons 
and five daughters, of whom but three of the sons and one daughter sur- 
vive. He reached the psalmist's limit of three score and ten. 

Francis M. Guye, the only representative of the family on the Pacific 
coast, was reared to years of maturity on the farms which his father owned 
in Indiana, Missouri and Iowa, and in the public schools of the three states 
he received his education, attending school during the winter months, while 
in the summer seasons he assisted his father in the work of the fields. Re- 
maining at home until his twentieth year he crossed the plains to California 
in 1853, his party consisting of about a dozen people, and in order to defray 
the expenses of the trip he drove a large herd of cattle. At that time the 
trail was lined with emigrants as far as the eye could see, and they made 
a safe journey, arriving at Hangtown, now Placerville, California, in Sep- 
tember, 1853. For a time after his arrival there he received si.xty-five dol- 
lars a month and his board in compensation for his services, but he left his 
money with the firm by whom he was employed and on account of their fail- 
ure he lost his entire earnings. For some time afterward he was profitably 
engaged in freighting from Sacramento to the mines and was also engaged 
in placer mining. In 1858 he went to the Frazier river gold fields, but his 
mining venture there was not crowned with success, and after a year thus 
spent he came to Seattle, arriving here in June, 1859. For a short time 
thereafter he worked on the military road then being constructed to Belling- 
ham Bay, after which he was successfully engaged for a number of years in 
lumbering, cutting, selling and delivering logs at Salmon Bay. The money 
which he thus made was invested in Seattle property, on Yesler way. Com- 
mercial street and Washington avenue, and he also built several bridges at 
these places, but when the great fire of 1889 swept over the city he was a 
heavy loser. Since that time Mr. Guye has devoted the greater part of his 
time and attention to prospecting, and has discovered large quantities of 
iron and coal. He has developed much mining property in different parts 
of the state, and is now the owner of one thousand acres of valuable mining 



128 REPRESENTATIVE CTflZENS OF 

land. Among his rich mines is the Inchistry, located on Giiy"s Mountain, at 
tlie head of the south fork of the Snoqualmie river, near Snoquahnie Pass, 
in the Cascade mountains, which covers an area of two hundred and forty 
acres and contains bodies of magnetic iron ore from fifty to one hundred 
feet in depth. On tlie same property is found large quantities of white and 
mottled marble of great beauty and value. His Bessemer mine, on the middle 
and north forks of the Snoqualmie river, covers an area of one hundred and 
sixty acres and contains large deposits of the very best magnetic and red 
hematite iron ore. At the Bald Hornet mine he owns sixty acres of land, on 
which is located rich deposits of gold and silver, and this property is located 
in the vicinity of the Bessemer mine. His Washington coal mine, in the 
.Squak mountains, about eighteen miles southeast of Seattle, extends over 
an area of six hundred and forty acres and contains large deposits of semi- 
anthracite, cannel and bituminous coal. In the development of these prop- 
erties he has discovered several veins from three to nine feet in thickness and 
extending to a great depth, at an angle of forty degrees. Mr. Guye has made 
a close study of geology and mineralogy, and his opinions are considered as 
authority on the subject. 

In the year 1872 Mr. Guye was happily married to Mrs. Eliza (Dunn) 
Plympton. She is a native of Maine and a daughter of Josiah and Sarah ( Jor- 
don) Dunn, of Oxford, Oxford county, that state, and of Scotch and English 
descent. Her grandfather, Joshua Dunn, arrived in America at the com- 
mencement of the Revolutionary war, and although but eighteen years of age 
he joined the colonial forces and espoused the cause of the colonies. He lived 
to the age of seventy-eight years. Josiah Dunn removed to Massachusetts 
in 1840, and died in Maine at the age of eighty-six years. Mrs. Guye was 
first married in Boston, when a young girl, to Josiah Ingalls Plympton, by 
whom she had four children, two sons and two daughters, but only one of 
the number, Charles Edward Plympton, is living. He was reared by Mr. 
Guye, and still lives in Seattle. During the Civil war Mr. Plympton en- 
tered the Union service as a captain, but on account of meritorious service 
on the field of battle he was soon promoted to the rank of colonel and was 
soon to have been made a general. He had expected to return home on a 
furlough in a few days, when with his regiment he was ordered into battle 
at Deep Bottom, and in that engagement, on the i6th of August, 1864, 
while in command of his regiment, he laid down his life on the altar of his 
country. He was a brave and loyal soldier, and his loss was deeply felt by 
his little family and friends. Mrs. Guye is a lady of culture and refinement, 
and she, too, has made a close study of minerals. When sixtv years of age 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 129 

she took the Chautauqua course of study with a large class of ministers and 
teachers, and at the close of the course she stood at the head of the class, with 
an average of ninety-five in each study. She has a large and well assorted 
lihrary, and spends many happy hours among her books. Mr. Guye is a life- 
long Republican, and, although at all times a public-spirited and progressive 
citizen, he has never been an aspirant for political preferment, preferring io 
give his entire attention to his business interests. He is an enthusiast on 
the mineral wealth of the state, and during the World's Fair at Chicago he 
shipped at his own expense three thousand pounds of mineral exhibits, in- 
cluding marble, iron, coal, fine clay and moulding sand, to the Exposition. 
Mr. and Mrs. Guye reside in a pleasant home at No. 1627 17th avenue, 
south, where they extend a gracious hospitality to their many friends. 

SYLVESTER B. HICKS. 

As one of the representative business men of the city of Seattle, where 
he has maintained his home for nearly a decade and a half, contributing in no 
small measure to its development and material prosperity through his well 
directed enterprise and public spirit, and as one whose ancestral record be- 
speaks long and prominent identification with the annals of American his- 
tory, there are many points which render particularly consonant a specific 
and prominent mention of Mr. Hicks in this compilation, and it is a work 
of satisfaction to thus perpetuate a record of worthy and useful life. 

Mr. Hicks was born on a farm near the city of Rochester, in Monroe 
county. New York, on the i8th of June, 1846, and is a descendant of dis- 
linguished English stock, the ancestry being traced back in direct line, from 
records still extant, to Sir Ellis Hicks and to the date of September 9, 1356. 
This ancestor was knighted by Edward, the "Black Prince," of England, 
for great bravery and gallantry displayed in capturing the colors of the 
French in the battle of Poictiers. His lineal descendant, and the progenitor 
of the American, sailed from England in the good ship "Fortune" and landed 
at Plymouth, in the ^Massachusetts colony, on the nth of November, 1621, 
one year after the arrival of the "Mayflower." Our subject's ancestors in 
the direct line continued to reside in the state of Massachusetts until his 
great-grandfather, Samuel Hicks, removed to Parma, Monroe county, New- 
York, becoming one of the pioneers of that section. His son and namesake, 
Samuel, Jr., grandfather of the subject of this sketch, had located in that 
county about two years previous to the arrival of his father and had the 
distinction of being the first wdiite settler in Monroe county, and two years 



I30 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

elapsed before any other white person made settlement there. Samuel Hicks, 
Sr., was a valiant soldier of the Continental line during the war of the Rev- 
(jlution, and the same intrinsic loyalty was manifested by his son Samuel, 
who was an active participant in the war of 1812, in which he held the im- 
portant office of commissary. His grandson, to whom this sketch is dedi- 
cated, has in his possession the gun carried by this honored patriot, together 
with a pewter plate which had been used in his household, while he also 
owns eighty-nine acres of the extensive farm t>n which his grandfather re- 
sided for so many years and which was owned by him during the long period 
of his residence in Monroe county, New York, where he became one of 
the prominent and influential farmers of the state. He departed this life in 
1849, '^t the age of sixty-nine years. In his early life, amid the pioneer wilds 
of that section of the state of New York, he devoted his attention largely 
to hunting and trapping, and later he reclaimed the farm previously mentioned 
and placed it under effective cultivation. His wife, whose maiden name was 
Sherwood, was likewise of English lineage, and the second white woman to 
cross the Genesee river, the first having been Aneka Janes, and the two were 
well acquainted. She attained the age of eighty-four years. Grandfather 
Hicks left his fine farm to his two youngest sons, and in course of time their 
affairs became involved and the property passed out of their hands, with the 
exception of eighty-nine acres which was becjueathed to an aunt of our sub- 
ject, this, too, being incumbered. In 1899 Sylvester B. Hicks, our subject, 
purchased this portion of the old farm and cleared off the obligations, and 
he finds satisfaction in there providing a home for his venerable aunt, to 
whom the property had been given, but who had no means of freeing the 
place from the mortgage resting upon it. The property near the city of 
Rochester, wdiich had been purchased by Grandfather Hicks for seven York 
shillings per acre, is likewise still owned by members of the family. 

John Hicks, father of him whose name initiates this article, was born 
on the old homestead farm in Monroe county. New York, in the year 181 1, 
and was there reared to maturity. He married Miss Elsie Olmsted, who 
was born at Burnt Hill, Saratoga county, New York, in 1813. and they 
became the parents of eight children, of whom only three are now living. 
John Hicks passed away in 1866, in the fifty-fifth year of his age, his death 
being the result of an organic disease of the heart. He had been a successful 
merchant in the city of Rochester for many years and was a man of sterling 
character and marked ability. His widow long survived him, passing away 
at the venerable age of eightv-three vears. Both were devoted members of 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 131 

the Baptist church and to them was ever accorded unequivocal respect and 
esteem by all who knew them. 

Sylvester B. Hicks was the seventh in order of birth of the eight chil- 
dren of John and Elsie (Olmsted) Hicks, and he received his early education 
in the excellent public schools of the city of Rochester. In 1864 he took 
the position of accountant in the service of the government, and as such con- 
tinued to be employed, in Tennessee, for a period of two years. He then 
accepted a position as traveling salesman for a manufacturing house in the 
city of New Ha\en, Connecticut, and in this capacity visited all the larger 
cities in the Union, continuing to remain in the employ of this concern 
until 1883, thus gaining a valuable business experience and an exceptionally 
wide circle of acquaintances. After leaving his position as a traveling rep- 
resentative Mr. Hicks engaged in the hardware business in Aberdeen, South 
Dakota, this line of enterprise being that with which he had familiarized 
liimself as a commercial traveler, and he continued at the point noted for a 
period of about five years, his efforts having been attended with a due 
measure of success. He disposed of his interests there in 1889 and came to 
Seattle, where he arrived on the ist day of July. For a few months he was 
in the employ of the hardware firm of Campbell & Atkinson, and was then 
tendered a position and a stock interest in the Schwabacher Hardware Com- 
pany, of which he became vice-president and also acted as manager until 
1899, at which time he resigned, for the purpose of engaging in business on 
his own responsibility, inaugurating the new enterprise by organizing the 
firm of S. B. Hicks & Sons. The establishment of the firm is one of the 
most important of the sort in the northwest, the stock handled comprising 
all lines usually carried in a metropolitan house of the kind, and a branch 
store is also maintained by the firm in the city of Portland, Oregon. Mr. 
Hicks is familiar with every detail of the business and his long experience 
makes him a particularly careful and discriminating buj^er, so that he is 
able to handle his business with great facility and to offer the best service to 
his patrons. The house of which he is the head has gained a high reputa- 
tion and is recognized as one of the leading business concerns of the city, 
a specially extensive trade being handled in the line of heavy hardware. 'Sir. 
Hicks is also a large stockholder in the Z. C. Miles-Piper Company, a 
prominent hardware and house-furnishing concern of this city. Our sub- 
ject is thoroughly public-spirited and progressive and has ever taken a deep 
interest in all undertakings and enterprises projected for the benefit of the 
city and its people. He came here at the time when the ever memorable 
fire of 1889 had left the major portion of the city in smoldering niins, and 



132 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

he has not only been a witness of the splendid rehabihtation of the place, 
but has also contributed a due quota to the upbuilding of the city and to 
insuring its advancement along normal and legitimate lines of industrial en- 
terprise. His political support has ever been given to the Republican party 
and he and his wife hold membership in the Baptist church, of which they 
are liberal supporters. 

April 21, 1868, Mr. Hicks was united in marriage to Miss Henrietta 
West, who was born in New York city, the daughter of Beer West, a prom- 
inent jeweler of the national metropolis at that time. Of this union three 
children have been born, namely: Adelbert IM. and Frederick W., both 
of whom are associated with their father in the hardware business, while 
the latter of the two is also a member of the directorate of the Z. C. Miles- 
Piper Company; and Elizabeth Alice, who is the wife of Arthur L. Piper, 
one of the interested principals in the company just mentioned. 

JOHN M. FRINK. 

The industrial activities which have gi\-en the city of Seattle such marked 
prestige and precedence within the lapse of comparatively few years, have 
been fostered and pushed forward by men of business capacity, sterling char- 
acter and progressive spirit, — men who have had appreciation of the natural 
advantages here afforded and prescience as to what the future would bring 
forth. Among the honored and representative business men of Seattle is Mr. 
Frink, president and manager of the Washington Iron Works, one of the 
leading industrial concerns of the Evergreen state. 

Mr. Frink claims the old Keystone state of the Union as the place of 
liis natixity, having been born in Montrose, Susquehanna county, Pennsyl- 
vania, on the 2ist of January, 1845, the family being of stanch Norman 
French ancestry and having been established on .American £oil in the early 
colonial epoch. The original American progenitors located in the Carolinas 
in 1667, and later the family became one of prominence in Connecticut, New 
York and Pennsylvania, while in each successive generation have been found 
men of ability and honor and women of refinement. Rev. Prentiss Frink, 
the father of the subject of this review, was born in Madison county. New 
York, in the year 181 5, and was a clergyman of the Baptist church, devot- 
ing his life to the work of his noble calling and being a man of high intel- 
lectuality and lofty ideals. He married Miss Deidamia Millard, who was 
about his own age and wdio was born in Schenectady county. New York. 
In their earlv married life thev li\-cd for a number of vears in Pennsvlvania. 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. i33 

thence returning to New York, where they remained until 1858, when they 
removed to Kansas, of which state the father of our subject became one of 
the pioneer clergymen, and there he passed the residue of his life, passing 
away in 1861, at the age of forty-six years, and leaving his widow and eight 
children, of whom six survive at the present time. The devoted wife and 
mother long survi\ed her husband, being summoned into eternal rest at the 
old home in Fairview, Kansas, in 1897, at the venerable age of seventy-six 
years. 

John M. Frink, who was the eldest son, was but sixteen years of age 
at the time of his father's death, and thus the care and maintenance of the 
family devolved upon him to a very large extent while he was still a mere 
youth. The texture of his character was shown at that time, for he valiantly 
assumed the responsibilities which were placed upon his shoulders, contin- 
uing to work the homestead farm and to care for his mother and the younger 
children until all became able to assume personal responsibilities and provide 
for their own maintenance. He thus continued at the homestead for a period 
of ten years, and has never regretted his devotion to the welfare of those 
near and dear to him, considering his labors at the time as having consti- 
tuted a privilege rather than a burden. His father had been in ill health for 
a number of years prior to his deatii, and this necessitated our subject's with- 
drawal from school at the immature age of twelve years, in order that he 
might take up the work which he so ably continued after the demise of his 
father, and from that early age he received no farther specific scholastic train- 
ing save for two terms of study in the preparatory department of Washing- 
ton College, at Topeka, Kansas. That to one of such alert and receptive 
mentality this technical deprivation practically constituted only a slight handi- 
cap, needs scarcely be said, and he effectively supplemented his school disci- 
pline by personal reading and study in the evenings, at the noon hour and 
on Sundays, making each moment of leisure count for definite development. 
Though he may thus be said to be self-educated, it can not be gainsaid that 
the subjective proved an able instructor, for Mr. Frink is a man of broad 
and exact knowledge and is keenly appreciative of the intellectual elements, 
while his powers of absorption have ever been of pronounced type. 

In 1870 Mr. Frink was united in marriage to Miss Hannah Phillips, 
who was born in Westchester, Pennsylvania, and shortly after this import- 
ant event in his career he removed to southern Kansas, where he secured a 
farm of his own, and there continued to devote his attention to agricultural 
pursuits for a period of eight years, his energy and discriminating methods 
being so directed as to result in a gratifying and unequivocal success. \\'liile 



134 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

residing in tlie Snnlluwer state Mr. l*"i"ink enlisted in llie Twenty-second 
Kansas Home Guards, at the time of the Indian massacre of 1863, and he 
also served in defending the country against the invasion of the Confederate 
General Price during the war of the Rebellion, and also in repelling Ouant- 
rell at the time of the burning of the city of Lawrence, in that troublous 
epoch in our national history, when the state of which he was a resident con- 
sistently gained the sobriquet of "bleeding Kansas." 

Mr. Frink was reared in the west, and is typically western in spirit and 
sentiment, being dominated by that progressive energy which has brought 
about the magnificent development of the great western section of our na- 
tional commonwealth. In the year 1875 he disposed of his interests in 
Kansas and removed to San Francisco, California, where he remained but 
a short interval, coming thence to Seattle and casting in his lot with this 
city of destiny. He began his career here in a most obscure capacity, and his 
progress has indeed kept pace with that of the beautiful metropolis of Wash- 
ington, and the one is to be viewed with as great satisfaction as the other. 
He secured work by the day on the streets of the ambitious little western 
town, which at that time gave slight evidence of its future prestige, and also 
worked in the coal bunkers, later turned his attention to carpentry and finally 
entered upon a notably different sphere of endeavor, becoming a successful 
i'chool teacher. He has ever had the deepest appreciation of the dignity of 
honest toil and is signally free from that false pride which has proved the 
undoing of many a man. In his pedagogic work Mr. L^'ink served as prin- 
cipal of the Belltown school and later was similarly incumbent in the public 
schools of Port Gamble, Kitsap county, where he remained two years. In 
J 88 1 he engaged in the foundry business in Seattle, beginning operations 
upon a most modest scale, but giving inception to an enterprise which was 
to develop into one of the leading industries of the city and state. He en- 
tered into partnership with L. H. Tenny, under the firm name of Tenny & 
Frink, and they equipped their plant in such a way as to meet the demands 
placed upon it at the time. In the year 1882, such had been the success at- 
tending the first year's operations, it was deemed expedient to augment the 
scope of operations by the enlargement of the facilities of the enterprise. ancV 
this was duly accomplished by the organization of the Washington Iron 
Works Company, which was duly incorporated under the laws of the terri- 
tory of Washington. Mr. Frink was at once made president and manager 
of the company, and in this capacity he has served to the present time, his 
tine executive and administrative powers, his marked business discrimination 
and his indefatigable energy ha\'ing been the factors in accomplishing the 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. i35 

success which has attended tlie enterprise and brought it into a place of 
prominence and to the controUing of a business of wide scope and import- 
ance. To the original foundry was added a machine shop, and later a black- 
smith and boiler shop, and the plant was well equipped at the time of the 
great fire which devastated the city in 1889. This memorable conflagration 
practically wiped out the property of the company, as it did many other of the 
most prominent and important business concerns in the city, anc! the loss entailed 
to the Washington Iron Works Company reached the aggregate of about eigh- 
ty-fne thousand dollars, over and above the insurance indemnity. At the time 
uf the fire the company controlled a large business and gave employment to 
a corps of one hundred and sixty-five workmen. With that indomitable 
spirit and courage which animated the business men of the city after this 
disaster and which eventuated in the more substantial upbuilding of its ma- 
terial resources, the company forthwith began the construction of a new 
plant, and the same now covers two blocks, while its equipment and access- 
ories are of the most modern and improved type. The business has con- 
stantly increased in scope and represents today one of the important 
industries of the state, while employment is afforded to two hundred work- 
men, so that the enterprise has distinct bearing upon the public welfare of 
the community, while furthering the individual prosperity of the interested 
principals. 

Mr. Frink has ever stood as one of the loyal and public-spirited citi- 
zens of the great state of Washington, to whose material development and 
civic progress he has contributed in no small measure, and he is honored 
as one of the sterling pioneers of the commonwealth. He was one of the 
organizers of the first electric light companies in Seattle, in 1886, but event- 
ually disposed of his interests in the same. Other public enterprises of the 
greatest importance have received his co-operation, notably that involving 
the construction of street railways, in which he has taken a very prominent 
part, being at the present time president and manager of the Seattle City 
Railway Company, in whose stock he has a controlling interest. He has also 
been conspicuously identified with the building interests of the city, having 
erected a large number of business and residence structures and being the 
owner of property in all divisions of the city. He erected what is known as 
the Washington Iron Works Block, at the corner of Occidental and Jack- 
son streets, the original site of the iron works, and he has built a number 
of fine residences, including his own beautiful and distinctively modern 
lumie. at the corner of Weller street and Thirtieth avenue, south, the same 



136 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OE 

being of attractive architectural design and equipment and standing as one 
of the handsomest places in the city, its erection having been completed in 
1882. In politics Mr. Frink gives a stanch allegiance to the Republican 
party, and has been prominent in its councils in the state of his adoption. He 
was a member of the board of aldermen of Seattle at the time when the first 
cable and electric street railways were installed, and he did all in his power 
to facilitate the construction of this important municipal improvement, while 
at all times his aid and influence have been given in support of every enter- 
prise and project for the general good. In 1891 he was elected to represent 
iiis district in the senate of the state legislature, was chosen as his own suc- 
cessor, and thus served for a period of eight years, proving a capable and 
loyal legislator and being ver^' active in guarding and protecting the inter- 
ests of his district, and those of the state at large. His prominence in the 
ranks of the Republican party in the state, and the appreciative estimate 
placed upon his abilities and character led to his nomination for the dis- 
tinguished office of governor of the state in 1900, but his defeat was com- 
passed through a split in the ranks of the party, owing to a disaffection on 
the part of a certain faction. Mr. Frink was for a number of years a most 
active and zealous member of the board of education in his home city, having 
been president of the body for two out of the five years of service in this ca- 
pacity. During his temi of service all save two of the fine school buildings 
of the city were erected. He has ever stood as one of the progressive busi- 
ness men and public-spirited citizens of the state of Washington, and his 
course has been such as to command unequivocal confidence rnd esteem. He 
has attained a high degree of success in his business operations, being dis- 
tinctively a man of affairs, and this is the more to his credit since it represents 
the results of his own efforts, which have been directed on a high plane of 
honor and integrity. Fie is a prominent member of the First Presbyterian 
church, with which his family are also identified. 

Mrs. Hannah (Phillips) Frink entered into eternal rest in 1875. five 
years subsequently to her marriage, and in 1877 Mr. Frink was united in 
marriage to Miss Abby Hawkins, who was born in the state of Illinois, be- 
ing a daughter of Almon Hawkins. They have five children : Egl^ert I. 
is treasurer of the Washington Iron Works Company : Gerald is assistant 
superintendent and master mechanic of the works ; and Francis Guy is secre- 
tary of the company ; the two daughters, Helena and Ethena remain at the 
parental home, which is a center of gracious and refined hospitality, the fam- 
ily taking a prominent part in the social life of the city. 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 137 

LUTHER A. DYER. 

Though no land is richer in opportunities or offers greater advantages 
to its citizens than America, success is not to be obtained through desire, 
but must be persistently sought. In America "labor is king" and the man 
who resolutely sets to work to accomplish a purpose is certain of success 
if he but has the qualities of perseverance, untiring energy and practical 
common sense. Captain Luther A. Dyer, president of the l<"orty-fifth Con- 
solidated Mining Company, through his diligence and persistent purpose, 
has won a leading place in the financial circles of King county. 

A native of Maine, he was born at Addison Point, Washington county, 
on the 27th of February, 1840, and is a member of a prominent old family 
of that commonwealth. The progenitor of the family on American soil was 
T.emuel Dyer, the great-great-grandfather of our subject, who came to this 
country from old England. The grandfather of our subject, also named 
Lemuel Dyer, was born in Maine, and became a ship builder and sea captain, 
the Dyers for many generations having followed a sea-faring life. Captain 
Luther Dyer, the father of him whose name introduces this review, also 
claimed the Pine Tree state as the place of his nativity, and he, too, fol- 
lowed the sea, his career as a sailor covering a period of fifty-five years. 
In 1863 his ship, the Fannie W. Bailey, w^as wrecked outside the bar at San 
Francisco, and with the exception of two all on board were lost, the brave 
captain going down with his ship. He had married Miss Delana A. Look, 
wiio was born at Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, and was descended 
from an old American family. They became the parents of two sons, the 
brother of our subject being G. C. Dyer, an employe of the American Rub- 
ber Company at Boston. 

Captain Luther A. Dyer received his primary education in the public 
schools of his native locality, and later became a student in the Washington 
Academy, there receiving superior advantages. When fourteen years of 
age, following the footsteps of his ancestors, he went before the mast, his 
first voyage being from New York to Australia, and during his career of 
fifteen years as a sailor he visited all parts of the world and was in many 
shipwrecks. For the subsequent fifteen years he was the master and owner 
of ships, and after a sea-faring life of thirty years he sold his ships at Boston 
and in 1887 came to Seattle, Washington, w'here he has since been interested 
in the discovery of the rich mineral deposits of this locality. The company of 
which he is now president own property in the Sultan district, in the Cascade 
Mountains, where thev have taken out one hundred and ninetv thousand 



138 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

dollars worth of ore, the ore running from fifteen to one hundred and 
twenty-six dollars a ton in silver and gold. The mine which they are now 
operating is a very valuable one, and in addition they have thirty-two claims. 
Mr. Dyer is one of the leading miners of the locality, and in both business 
and social circles he is well known. His political support is given to the 
Democracy, but he has never been an aspirant for public honors. 

The marriage of our subject was celebrated in 1867, when >,Iiss Direxa 
J. Leighton became his wife, but after a happy married life of nine years 
this union was dissolved by the hand of death, the wife bemg called to her 
final rest in 1875, leaving one son, Luther H., who is now at sea. From 
early life Mr. Dyer has been identified with the Masonic fraternity, and 
he is also a member of the Red Men. 

JAMES TONKIN. 

As the progress and prosperity of the nation and of any community 
represents the aggregate result of the endeavors of the individual citizens, 
so the history of the nation is the record of the composite achievements of 
Its people. Biography thus becomes the very foundation on which must 
rest the general history of mankind. The importance of making a per- 
manent record of the life-work of men who are worthy such distinction, 
can not be overestimated. The subject of this review stands forward as one of 
of the honored and representative citizens of the thriving little city of Renton, 
\vith whose progress and development he has been intimatel}'^ identified, having 
been the pioneer merchant of the place and having gained a high position 
in the esteem and confidence of the people of the community. The busi- 
ness which he established so many years ago is now carried successfully for- 
ward by his sons, who conduct a well equipped general merchandise estab- 
lishment, under the firm name of Tonkin Brothers. 

Mr. Tonkin is a native of Cornwall, England, and in his makeup have 
lieen signally manifested those sterling characteristics for which the Cor- 
nishman has ever been recognized and honored. He was born en the 29th 
of September, 1834, the son of William and Phoebe (Knight) Tonkin, 
both representatives of stanch old English families. The father was iden- 
tified with the great mining industry in Cornwall and passed his entire life 
in his native land, passing away at the age of sixty-five years. He was 
a man of upright character and sterling worth, and both he and his wife 
were devoted members of the Methodist Episcopal -church, she h.aving sur- 
vived him a few years. They became the parents of eight children, and the 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. i39 

subject of this sketch is the only member of the family in the state of Wash- 
ington. 

James Tonkin was reared to maturity in liis native land, where he re- 
ceived a good English education, after which he became identified with 
ciuartz mining in Cornwall. In the year 1865 he was united in marriage 
to Miss Mary Ann Stanton, and to them have been born three sons and 
one daughter. The daughter, Amelia, is the wife of Thomas Tonkin, of 
Cornwall. Of the sons we enter the following record: William is identi- 
fied with the operation of the Renton mine; Edwin is an attache of the 
office of the Great Northern Railroad, in Seattle; and Josiah is associated 
with his father in conducting the mercantile business, in which the other 
sons are also interested. The children are all married, and our subject has 
twelve grandchildren. 

In April, 1866, Mr. Tonkin made a trip to South Africa, and there 
passed a year, being employed in the mines at Capetown. He then returned 
to England, and in 1867, in company with his young wife, he started for 
America, landing at Castle Garden on the ist of May, and thence proceed- 
ing to Colchester, McDonough county, Illinois, where he was employed in 
the coal mines, and where he continued to reside until 1882, in November 
of which year he came to Washington and secured employment in the Ren- 
ton mine, being thus engaged until 1884, when he opened a grocery in the 
town, which was then scarcely more than a hamlet of a few houses, and lie 
inaugurated operations in a very modest way, carrying a small stock of 
groceries and provisions. With the growth of the town his business enter- 
prise increased in scope and importance, and the establishment now has a 
select and comprehensive line of general merchandise and controls a trade 
of representative order, the fair dealing and honorable methods ever brought 
to bear in the conducting -of the enterprise having brought a popular ap- 
preciation and confidence and insured the steady expansion of the business. 
Mr. Tonkin's success has been due to his close attention to business, to his 
unvarying courtesy and to his absolute integrity of purpose, and he retains 
the unequivocal confidence and esteem of the people of the community, being 
known as a progressive ani public-spirited citizen and as one wdio has 
done liis part in furthering the advancement and material upbuilding of 
the little city with whose history he has been identified for a score of years. 

In politics Mr. Tonkin formerly gave his support to the Republican 
party without reservation, but he now maintains an independent position, 
exercising his franchise in support of those men and measures meeting the 
approval of his judgment. He has never sought or held office, preferring 



I40 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

to devote his entire time and attention to his personal business. Fraternally 
he is an honored member of the Masonic order, having been raised to tlie 
master's degree in St. Andrew's Lodge, No. 35, A. F. & A. M., of Renton, 
of which he has held the office of treasurer for years. He is also a member 
of the auxiliary branch, the Order of the Eastern Star, and he was one of 
the charter members of Colchester Lodge, No. 30, Ancient Order of United 
Workmen, in Illinois. His life has been one of signal usefulness and honor 
and the success which is his has come as the result of his own efforts. He 
and his wife have a pleasant home in Renton, and their children are all 
established in homes of their own, the family having ever been prominent 
in the social and business life of the city and well meriting the esteem in 
which the various members are held. 

GEORGE ALFRED HILL. 

George /Mfred Hill has for eighteen years been a member of the Seattle 
bar and the distinction which comes through merit and ability has been won 
by him. He was born near Nashville, Tennessee, on the 24th of Decem- 
ber, 1842, and is of Scotch-Irish lineage. His ancestors emigrated to Vir- 
ginia prior to the war of the Revolution, and later became residents of Ten- 
nessee and Kentucky. The subject of this review was also connected with 
the Hanks family, equally prominent and well known in Virginia. George 
Hill, the great-grandfather, and George Fair Hill, the grandfather of our 
subject were both heroes of the Revolution, who valiantly aided in the strug- 
gle for independence, and the latter became one of the early settlers of Ken- 
tucky. Reuben C. Hill, the father of him whose name introduces this review, 
was born in Kentucky, but spent the greater part of his life in Tennessee. 
He studied medicine and for many years successfully practiced his profes- 
sion. In 1850 he crossed the plains to California and earned a large amount 
of money. He was a skilled physician of generous impulses and humani- 
tarian principles and his aid was never solicited by the poor and needy in 
vain. Every movement for the general good received his support and co- 
operation and for many years he was a much beloved and zealous minister of 
the Baptist church. He took a deep interest in educational matters and en- 
dowed the McMinville Baptist College, in McMinnville, Oregon. He mar- 
ried Miss Margaret Lair of Kentucky, who was associated with him in much 
of his work in behalf of humanity. The journey across the plains to Cali- 
fornia was made with oxen and for two years he remained on the Pacific 
coast, meeting with excellent success in his labors. In 1852 he returned to 






/ 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 141 

his wife and children and the following year brought them with him across 
the plains, this time taking up his abode in Benton county, Oregon. Sub- 
sequently he removed to Albany, where the remainder of his days were passed 
in the active practice of the medical profession and in preaching the gospel 
of peace and good will to men. He was thus closely identified with two of 
the most important callings to which man can devote his energies — the al- 
leviation of human suffering, and the work of preparing men, not only for 
the duties of this life, but also for the glories of the life to come. He died in 
.Albany at the ripe old age of eighty-four years, but his memory remains as 
a blessed benediction to all who knew him and his example is yet a potent 
influence in the lives of those with whom he came in contact. He was so- 
licited by his fellow citizens to represent them in the legislature of Oregon 
and held that position of honor and trust for a number of terms, always 
putting forth his best efforts for the good of the young state. He left the 
impress of his individuality upon many lines of life, promoting lasting prog- 
ress and improvement, and high on the roll of honored pioneers of the Pa- 
cific coast is his name enshrined. His wife was a brave pioneer woman, who 
met courageously the conditions of frontier life and shared with her husband 
in the good work which he accomplished and the influence which he exercised. 
She departed this life at the age of eighty-three years. Nine children were 
born unto them, three daughters and six sons, of whom two of the sons and 
one daughter have passed to the great beyond. The surviving sons of the 
family are : W. Lair, an eminent attorney of San Francisco ; J. L., a physi- 
cian of Albany, Oregon; Taylor, a capitalist residing in Prineville, Oregon; 
and George Alfred. 

George Alfred Hill was a youth of only eleven years when, with bis 
parents, he crossed the plains to Oregon in 1853. He was educated in the 
common schools of the Sunset state and was reared upon the home farm, 
assisting his father and continuing his education until nineteen years of age, 
when he became a school teacher. He was twenty years of age when the 
country became excited over the discovery of gold at Boise, Idaho, and mak- 
ing his way to that place he there engaged in placer mining for three years, • 
also in prospecting and digging, enduring all the hardships, dangers and ex- 
posures that come to the miner who invaded a new region, where. the com- 
forts of an older civilization were unknown. Like all miners he met with 
success and reverses and after these experiences he returned to his home in 
Albany, Oregon, where he was engaged in the drug business. He also read 
medicine, acquired a knowledge of chemistry, and successfully continued in 
the drug business for six vears. While living in Albanv he also served as a 



142 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

member of the city council for two years and was recognized as one of the 
leading and influential men of the community. In 1S74 he was elected 
county clerk of Linn county, whicii office he satisfactorily filled for two 
years. 

In the meantime Mr. Hill began reading law and acquired a taste for 
the profession, but his health becoming impaired he was advised by his 
physician to seek outdoor employment and he removed to eastern Oregon, 
where he engaged in stock raising, which proved a very profitable source 
of income, as well as giving him the necessary outdoor exercise, which soon 
restored his health. For three years he was engaged in that pursuit, but re- 
reverses overtook him and Indian depredations also robbed him of his profits, 
so that he abandoned the business after losing nearly everything that he had 
saved from his former business undertakings. In the fall of 1880 he passed 
an examination before Judges Hanford, White and Jacobs, whereby he was 
admitted to the bar. He then actively entered upon the practice of his pro- 
fession and soon secured a good clientage. For a number of years he was 
in partnership with Harold Preston, of whose ability Mr. Hill speaks in the 
very highest terms. This partnership was terminated in 1884, at which time 
Mr. Hill was elected police magistrate. He proved a most capable official 
and at the close of his term resumed the private practice of law, in which he 
has gained distinction, owing to his comprehensive knowledge of the prin- 
ciples of jurisprudence and the clearness with which he applies his learning 
to the points in litigation. He has likewise become largel}^ interested in 
real-estate transactions and has done much for the improvement of the city 
along building lines. He has platted several additions to the town, which his 
foresight told him would be in time a good source of income, for he be- 
lieved that the future would witness the rapid development and substantial 
growth of the west and time has proven the wisdom of his opinions. 

In 1870 was celebrated the marriage, in Albany, Oregon, of Mr. Hill 
and Miss Julia A. Driggs, a daughter of Jeremiah Driggs, a brave Oregon 
pioneer of 1847. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Hill h.ave been born three children, two 
of whom are living: Victor, who is clerk in a drug store in Seattle, and 
Donald V. S., who is yet in school. Recently Mr. Hill has erected a nice 
residence in the southern part of town on a five-acre tract of land, and has 
made it a valuable and pleasant home. Both he and his wife are widely 
and favorably known, and their home is celebrated for its courteous hos- 
pitality. As the years have passed i\Ir. Hill has taken a very active and influ- 
ential part in many lines of activity that have contributed to the progress, 
improvement and prosperity of Oregon and of Washington. While in the 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 143 

former state he was a member of the Albany Vokinteer Fire Department, 
from 1872 until his removal from the city, and on coming to Seattle he en- 
tered that service here, remaining with it up to the time that it became a 
paid fire department. During the great fire which destroyed the city in 1889, 
he rendered valuable service in saving the' building in which his office and 
books were located, his previous experiences as a fireman enabling him to 
take up the work on the spur of the moment. Of the Masonic fraternity 
]\Ir. Hill is a representative, having been made a ]\Iaster Mason in Corinthian 
Lodge, No. 17, F. & A. M., in Albany, in 1869. He is a past master of Ionic 
Lodge, No. 90, and became a member of Bailey Chapter, No. 8, R. A. M., 
while at the present time he belongs to Seattle Chapter, Xo. 3. He like- 
wise holds membership relations with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, 
the Improved Order of Red Men, and the Ancient Order of United Work- 
men. He is an agreeable and cordial gentleman and is a worthy and esteemed 
citizen and pioneer. To the soldier who, upon the field of battle has risked 
life in defense of his country, the United States owes a debt of gratitude 
which can never be repaid, but she is equally indebted to the brave pioneers 
who faced the dangers, hardships and trials of the west in carrying civiliza- 
tion into frontier regions. Their tasks demanded courage and resolution, 
and their work has been a benefit, not alone to themselves, but will be en- 
joyed by generations to come, and it is fitting that their name should be 
found upon the pages of histor}'. 

HORACE H. CHESBRO. 

Among the successful and popular }-oung business men of the city of 
Seattle is the subject of this sketch, who is senior member of the firm of 
H. & H. Chesbro, here engaged iti the handling of all kinds of musical instru- 
ments and merchandise, while both members of the firm are skillful musicians 
and have taken a prominent part in the development of the interests of the 
"divine art" in the comniunitv. being held in high estimation in both busi- 
ness and social circles. 

The family of which our subject is a representative in the agnatic line 
is one which has been long identified with the annals of American historv, the 
original ancestor in the new world having come hither from England and 
tpken up his residence in the colony of Massachusetts in the early part of the 
se\-enteenth centur}% while he later became the founder and first white settler 
of Killingly, Connecticut. Representatives of the name, which has been 
variously spelled by different branches of the family, — Cheesebrough, Chese- 



144 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

brough, Chesbro, etc., — became prominent in the history of New England, 
while from a comprehensive genealogical \\ork to be published within the 
present year by a descendent of the line in New York city, it is shown that 
the family now has representatives in nearly all sections of the Union, while 
on the list are many in the various generations who have become distin- 
guished in connection with the political, professional and civic afifairs of the 
nation. (For the benefit of Mr. Chesbro, the writer would say that he is 
in the maternal line of this same family and knows these facts to be true, 
the work mentioned having been compiled in extenso by Mrs. Cheesebrough- 
Wildey, of New York, and being very comprehensive. — Editor) . 

Horace Hastings Chesbro is a native of the state of Connecticut, hav- 
ing been born on the 21st of May, 1875, the son of Dr. George Edward and 
Delia (Cook) Chesbro, who now maintain their home in Los Angeles, Cali- 
fornia, the father having devoted his entire business life to the practice of 
medicine and surgery and being an able and honored member of his pro- 
fession. His wife was born in the state of Maine and is a representative of 
one of the old and distinguished families of that commonwealth. Of the 
seven children of- Dr. and Mrs. Chesbro five are living at the present time, 
the subject of this review having been the second in order of birth. Horace 
H. received his early educational discipline in the public schools of Portland, 
Oregon, and he completed the scientific course in Valparaiso, Indiana, being 
graduated as a member of ihe class of 1897, ^vhile he also received a very thor- 
ough musical education in Valparaiso, Indiana, having a comprehensive the- 
oretical and technical knowledge and showing marked facility and talent in 
his interpretations. He became a successful teacher of pianoforte music and 
his interest in all that touches this great art, which embellishes all phases 
of life, is insistent and enthusiastic. Mr. Chesbro arrived in Seattle in May, 
1S89, two weeks prior to the ever memorable fire which so nearly obliterated 
the business section of the city, and he was for a time in the employ of the 
firm of Venen & Vaughan and later in that of ^Vinter & Harper, both promi- 
nent music firms of this city. In 1897 he entered into business on his own 
responsibility, becoming associated with Charles H. Harper in the establish- 
ing of the same, and this alliance continued until the death of Mr. Harper, 
in 1890, the relations having been most harmonious and the strongest mutual 
confidence and friendship having existed between the interested principals 
Upon the death of Mr. Harper our subject admitted to partnership his 
brother, Harry N. Chesbro, who is also a talented musician, and they have 
built up a successful business in the handling of pianos, organs and other 
musical instruments and merchandise, ha\-ing an eligibly located, well 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. I45 

equipped and attractive establishment at 1207 Second avenue, and receiving 
a supporting patronage of representative order, the personal popularity of the 
two principals contributing not a little to the advancement of the business. 
They handle the Weber, the Henry F. Miller, the Kurtzman and the Kohler 
and Campbell pianos, of New York, being exclusive piano and organ dealers. 
In politics J\Ir. Chesbro maintains an independent attitude, giving his support 
to those candidates whom he considers most eligible and best fitted for prefer- 
ment, and fraternally he is identified with the Woodmen of the World. The 
firm has gained an excellent reputation in the city and the business is con- 
ducted with that ability and fairness that insures a continuous expansion in 
its scope and importance. 

On the i6th of February, 1901, Mr. Chesbro was united in marriage 
to Miss Ella Holm, who was born in the state of Minnesota, the daughter of 
Charles Holm, one of the well known citizens of Seattle. 

FRANK V. MORGAN. 

One of the prominent and representative business men of Seattle, Wash- 
ington, is Frank V. Morgan, the present manager and one of the stockhold- 
ers of the Seattle Ice Company, which was established in that city in 1882 
by W. B, Bushnell and was purchased by the present corporation in 1897. 
Their plant is located on the corner of First avenue south and Charles street, 
and they also have a factory in Tacoma. I'hey manufacture distilled water 
ice, and in connection with that business conduct a cold storage and are 
largely engaged in fish freezing. Their ice is shipped to all parts of the Sound, 
and so large is their trade that they can hardly manufacture ice enough to sup- 
ply the demand. 

Mr. Morgan, the experienced manager of this enterprise, was bom in 
Newton, Massachusetts, on the 7th of April, 1867, and is of Welsh descent. 
The progenitor of the family in America first located in Connecticut, but 
shortly afterward removed to New Hampshire, in which state our subject's 
father, Henry B. Morgan, was born in 1828. His maternal ancestors were 
members of the Avery family, which can be traced back to the fourteenth 
century. Thev were among the early settlers of Massachusetts and were 
quite prominently identified with the early history of that state, many of the 
family being distinguished ministers. Our subject's father was for many 
years engaged in the express business, and was a stanch Republican in poli- 
tics, being one of the organizers of the party in his locality. He married Miss 
Martha Ann Jones, also a native of the old Granite state, who departed this 



146 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

life when in her thirty-fourth year, while he lived to be sixty-six years of age. 
They were the parents of six children, four of whom are still living. 

During his boyhood and youth Frank V. Morgan attended the public, 
schools, completing his education, however, at Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio. 
On coming west he first located at Sacramento, California, where he was en- 
gaged in the ice business for six years, while his brother, Fred, who is now 
bookkeeper of the Seattle Ice Company, was engaged in the same business in 
Sacramento for nine years. At that time they shipped ice from Tincker, 
Colorado, as there were then no ice plants in successful operation. Together 
our subject and his brother came to Seattle and purchased their present busi- 
ness, and being men of experience and ability in that line they are now meet- 
ing with marked success. They are members of the Manufacturers' Asso- 
ciation, and occupy a foremost position in the business circles of the city with 
which their lot is now cast. 

In 1895 Mr. P'rank V, Morgan was united in marriage with Miss Ger- 
trude Holt, and this union has been blessed by a little son, to whom they have 
given the name of Percy Avery. In his social relations Mr. Morgan is a 
member of the Knights of Pythias fraternity, and in politics is identified with 
the Republican party. Public-spirited and progressive, he takes a deep inter- 
est in the affairs of his adopted city, county and state, and does all in his power 
to advance the public welfare, but he has never cared for political honors. 
He applies himself closely to his business, and has made for himself an envia- 
ble record as an upright, honorable business man. 

HENRY OWEN SHUEY. 

In financial circles the name of Henry O. Shuey is an honored one and 
stands as a synonym for integrity. This gentleman is proprietor of the H. 
O. Shuey & Company Bank of Seattle, and also the Bank of Ballard. He is 
likewise the manager of the Equitable Building. Loan & Investment Asso- 
ciation of Seattle, and his labors have ever been of a character that has con- 
tributed to public progress and improvement and to the general prosperity as 
well as to his individual success. 

Mr. Shuey is a native of the state of Indiana, where his birth occurred 
on the 29th of April, 1861. His father, Daniel Shuey, was a native of Vir- 
ginia, and in 1827 removed to Indiana, where he was married to Miss Nancy 
Owen, whose birth occurred on May 5, 1 821, in the state of North Carolina. 
In the Hoosier state they became prominent farming people, the father own- 
ing large tracts of land and in addition to its cultivation he was extensively 




'^^ "^^ 



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SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. i47 

engaged in stockraising. His wife was a valued member of the Methodist 
church for twenty years, but later in life she became a member of the Chris- 
tian church and remained one of its adherents until called to the home pre- 
pared for the righteous. She died in 1899 at the age of seventy-eight years, 
having long survived her husbandy who departed this life in 1868, at the 
age of fifty-nine. The three sons of their family are as follows : Rev. 
Thomas J. Shuey, a minister of the Christian church located in Rock Island, 
Illinois; James B., a prominent and influential farmer living on the old home- 
stead in Indiana; and Henry Owen. 

After his father's death the last named remained with his mother upon 
the home farm until nineteen years of age, attended the schools and on leav- 
ing home went to Valparaiso, Indiana, where he worked his way through 
the Northern Indiana Normal School, providing for the expenses of the 
course by sawing wood and by following any honest pursuit that would en- 
able him to acquire an education. He was graduated in 1885. and soon 
afterward was married to Miss Hessie Sherrill, who was born in his own 
county and was a daughter of the Rev. James W. Sherrill a Baptist minister 
of Indiana. 

Mr. Shuey engaged in farming in the east for two years and in Feb- 
ruary, 1888, arrived in Seattle, where he embarked in the insurance and 
loan business, in which he met with a splendid degree of success. As his 
financial resources increased and his opportunities broadened he became iden- 
tified with the various interests of the city and state and acquired a wide 
and favorable acquaintance throughout Washington. He has made hosts of 
friends among all the people with whom he has come in contact and with 
whom he has transacted business, and his record is a most creditable one, 
lor no one has ever sustained a loss through him on account of poor loans. 
His reliability and integrity are beyond question and his efforts while bring- 
ing to him prosperity have also been of great benefit to his fellow men, he 
having assisted hundreds of people to acquire homes or enable them to en- 
gage in business for themselves. He has worked his way up through the 
most honorable methods and he is now one of Seattle's most highly respected 
citizens, having acquired wealth, which returns to him an annual income of 
over twenty-five thousand dollars. He is now the heaviest stockholder in the 
two successful banking houses previously mentioned. He takes great de- 
light in his business, possesses unflagging energy^ and keen discrimination 
and is notably prompt and reliable. His business policies have been perfect 
system, careful economy, and the strictest punctuality, and to such a course 
his success can be justly attributed. 



148 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

In his political views Mr. Shuey is a Republican, but is not an office- 
seeker. He is an active and earnest member of the Christian church, in which 
lie is serving as elder and has been largely instrumental in the building of 
the several mission churclies of the city, while he deserves the credit of hav- 
nig built one of the best churches of his denomination in the state at Everett. 
He has also taken a deep interest in the work of the Young JMen's Christian 
Association and of the different religious societies of the state. His influ- 
ence is ever on the side of the right, the true and the beautiful. 

Mr. and Mrs. Shuey have had two sons: Charles E., who died when 
six years and nine months of age, and Clyde S., who was bom April i, 
1897. They have a beautiful home in Seattle and a host of warm friends in 
the city of their adoption, where Mr. Shuey has won such brilliant success 
that is so worthily earned. 

ARTHUR A. SEAGRAVE. 

Arthur Amasa Seagrave, the proprietor of the Occidental Hotel, at the 
corner of Third avenue and Cherry street,- has been a resident of this city 
since 1887. He was born in Uxbridge, Massachusetts, on the 25th of July, 
J 841, and he traces his descendants back to Lord Seagrave, of England. His 
ancestors were among the brave and heroic band of Pilgrims who landed on 
the rock-bound shores of Massachusetts from the Mayflower, coming to this 
country in search of that religious liberty which was denied them in the 
mother countr3^ They were participants in all the early history of the col- 
onies, and the great-grandfather of our subject, John Seagrave, was a mem- 
ber of that noble band of patriots who fought so valiantly for the liberty 
of the colonies. The father of Arthur Seagrave was born in Uxbridge, 
Massachusetts, on the 20th of January, 1808, and he .was there married to 
Miss Almena Ross, who was born in Connecticut in 1812. Her father, Ziba 
Ross, served his country as a drummer in the War of 1812. During the early 
years of his life Mr. Seagrave was engaged in agricultural pursuits, but later 
he became a contractor and manufacturer of building stone. He had also 
followed the profession of teaching, and was a surveyor of much ability. 
At the organization of the Republican party he joined its ranks, and ever 
afterward remained a loyal supporter of its principles. He departed this life 
on the 8th of March, 1880, at the age of seventy-two years. Two of his 
sons, Austin and Orville, served in the United States navy during the Civil 
war, the former as pa5'^master and the latter as assistant in that capacity. 

Arthur Amasa Seagrave is indebted to the public school system of his 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. i49 

native town for the educational privileges which he enjoyed in his youth. 
The days of his boyhood and youth were spent on his father's farm, and 
during the period of the Civil war he was employed in the Burnside Rifle 
Manufactory, where they were engaged in making guns for the government, 
they having manufactured several hundred thousand rifles while he was there 
employed. He was drafted for service during the struggle, but the 
company rather than spare him from their shops paid three hundred dol- 
lars for a substitute, which amount the state of Rhode Island afterward re- 
turned to the company, for it was believed he performed better service for 
ihe government in manufacturing guns than he could have possibly done 
in the field. After the close of the struggle 'Sir. Seagrave engaged in the 
sale of woolen goods which had been manufactured by his relatix-es, many 
of the Seagraves being prominent woolen manufacturers, and later he re- 
moved to Omaha, arriving in that city on the 21st of May, 1868. In con- 
nection with his brother and a cousin he there established a private school, 
which he conducted for a number of years, and then entered the employ of 
the Union Pacific Railway Company, first as an express messenger and was 
later placed in charge of the construction department. He was subsequently 
transferred by that company to the Oregon Short Line, where he had charge 
of the material department and construction train, and to him is accorded 
the honor of being the first conductor on that division. Removing to Port- 
land, Oregan, in 1882, he issisted in the establishment of the Northern Pa- 
cific Express Company, in which he was associated with Superintend- 
ent Browning. After two years spent in that connection Mr. Seagrave re- 
moved to Olympia, Washington, where he organized a company for the 
manufacture of wooden pipes, of which he was made the president, and he 
was also one of the leading stockholders of the company, remaining with 
it for a number of years. Since 1887 he has made his home in Seattle and 
immediately after his arrival here he began investing in city property, but 
during the great fire of 1889 he suffered "a loss of several thousand dollars. 
He had previously built and was the owner of the Seagrave block, at the 
corner of Virginia and Third avenues, and after the destruction of the city 
by fire he \\as urgently requested by the mayor and the councilmen to con- 
vert this into a hotel, which he did, and thus became the proprietor of the 
Seagra\'e Hotel. He subsequently removed into a large brick building, 
erected by Jesse W. George, at the corner of Main and Occidental avenues, 
and there he conducted his hotel for about seven years, but about this time, 
owing to reports published in the newspapers, the building was considered 
unsafe, and Mr. Seagrave thus lost many thousands of dollars. In 1894 he 



ISO REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

came to his present location, where he is the proprietor of the Occidental 
Hotel. He is a kind-hearted and oblig"ing host, and his hotel enjoys a large 
rnd lucrati\e patronage. He is also the owner of a ranch just outside the 
city limits, where he raises a large variety of small fruits and vegetables and 
also poultry and hugs, and thus he nof only furnishes his table with many 
of the delicacies of the i-eason but gains that healthful exercise which he 
so much needs and enjoys. In addition to supplying his own table with 
meat he has also sold as high as fifty swine in a single year. 

The marriage of Mr. Seagrave was celebrated in 1874, when Miss 
Selina S. Glass became his wife. Several children came to bless their union, 
but only one daughter. Mabel A., now survives, and she is now a student at 
W'ellesley College, of Massachusetts. She graduated in the Seattle high 
school as the valedictorian of her class, and she is also a fine equestrian and 
a member of the Seattle Equestrian Club. Mounted on her black horse, 
Frank, she has won many prizes for fine riding. She is also an active and 
valued member of the Methodist church, and she has hosts of warm and 
admiring friends in this city. After eleven years of happy married life the 
union of i\Ir. and Mrs. Seagra\'e was dissolved by the hand of death, the 
wife and mother being called to the spirit world. On the 19th of May, 1888, 
Mr. Seagrave married Sarah Chattam, a descendant of Lord Chattam, of 
England. For ten years prior to her marriage she had been a popular and 
successful teacher in the public schools of Seattle, and religiously she is a 
charter member of the Second Presbyterian church of this city. In his fra- 
ternal relations Mr. Seagrave is a Mason and a member of the Benevolent 
and Protective Order of Elks, while in his political affiliations he is a stanch 
and unwavering Republican. 

J. HENRY HEMER. 

Few men of Seattle are moYe widely known throughout the state of 
Washington and the northwest than J. Henry Hemer, the grand recorder of 
the Ancient Order of United Workmen of this state. He maintains his 
residence and office at Seattle, where he is known as a citizen of integrity and 
a man of sterling worth, having many friends in this state. As his name im- 
plies, Mr. Hemer is of German lineage, and was born in the fatherland No- 
vember 29, 1857, his parents being Conrad and Catherine (Goebel) Hemer. 
Both were natives of Germany and the father ser\'ed throughout his entire 
life there as a revenue ofticer. He and his wife held membership in the Luth- 
eran church and were people of the highest respectability. His death occurred 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 151 

in 1884, when he was seventy years of age, and his wife departed this life in 
1897, at the age of sixty-eight years. They never left Germany, but con- 
tinued to be residents of the land of their nativity until called to the home 
beyond. In their family were eight children, of whom seven are yet living. 

J. Henry Hemer acquired a college education in his native land and also 
mastered the business of bookkeeping there, but to a young man of an ambi- 
tious nature, strong purpose and a keen outlook for future possibilities, the 
new world was more attractive tlian the old, and in 1872 he sailed for the 
American metropolis. For eight years he remained a resident of New 
York city, being employed there in various occupations but spending most 
of the time as a stationary engineer. In 1882 he removed to Denver, Colo- 
rado, and first secured a position in the Windsor hotel. Later he was en- 
gaged in business on his own account and m.et with gratifying success. In 
1889 ^is disposed of his business interests there and made a, trip to his native 
country, taking with him his wife and daughter. He spent seven months 
abroad, visiting his relatives and numerous friends and also looking upon 
many scenes of historic interest in the old world. 

Through the advice of J. W. Clise Mr. Hemer, upon his return to Amer- 
ica, came to Seattle, arriving in this city in November, 1889. He then en- 
tered the employ of Mr. Clise, having supervision of the men's work under 
that gentleman. He received the appointment to the position of deputv as- 
sessor of King county, filling the position very acceptably for two years. 
He then turned his attention to the barber business and for six years was a 
member of the firm of Hemer & Noyes. During this period he saved his 
money and successfully passed through the financial panic which this city 
underwent after the great fire, being able to retain possession of his prop- 
erty during that epoch. Mr. Hemer had joined the Ancient Order of United 
W'orkmen in Colorado, and, transferring his membership to Seattle, he took 
a \ery active part in the v.ork of the order here and became thoroughly posted 
in all departments connected with the organization. He became one of its most 
acti\e representatives and was appointed deputy by Grand Master Jones, after 
\\hich he traveled extensively over the whole of the western part of the state 
in behalf of the fraternity, visiting every town and meeting with great suc- 
cess in his undertakings, and doing much for the good of the order, adding 
many members thereto. So effective were his efforts that in April, 1890, he 
was elected grand recorder, filling that office to the satisfaction of all con- 
cerned. In 1 89 1 he was re-elected on the first ballot, and in 1902 he re- 
ceived the unanimous Aote of the gi^and lodge, a fact which indicated how 
h.ighly his services were appreciated and how valuable were his efforts in 



152 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

behalf of the society. He is likewise a member of the Knights of Macca- 
bees and the Degree of Honor. In pohtics he aflUiates with tlie Democracy. 
Mr. Hemer is ever zealous and earnest in his advocacy of what he believes to 
be right, and the same devoted loyalty is manifest in his connection with the 
political party of his choice. He has been endorsed by the Democratic Cluh 
for office, but has not cared to seek public preferment in recognition of his 
party fealty. 

Mr. Hemer was happily married in 1883 to Miss Robina Gumming, a 
native of Scotland, and their union has been blessed with one daughter, Anna, 
now a beautiful young lady. She is a valued member of the Episcopal church 
and with her parents enjoys the confidence and high esteem of all who have 
the pleasure of their acquaintance. They have' a very attractive home on 
Queen Ann Hill, one of the most beautiful residence portions of the city, and 
Mr. Hemer also has valuable property in Ballard. Mr. Hemer has made 
good use of his opportunities. He has prospered from year to year, has con- 
ducted all business matters carefully and successfully, and in all his acts dis- 
plays an aptitude for successful management. lie has not permitted the 
accumulation of a competence to affect in any way his actions toward those 
less successful than he, and has always a cheerful word and pleasant smile 
for all with whom he comes in contact. 

LEWIS S. ROWE. 

I-ewis Solomon Rowe is a pioneer settler of the Pacific coast, having 
established his home in California in 1854, and now he is the treasurer of 
the pioneer society of Washington. A wealthy and respected citizen of 
Seattle, there is much in his life history of interest to his many friends 
throughout this part of the country. He was born in Madison, Maine, on 
the 31st of August, 1834, and is of English and Scotch ancestry, the fam- 
ily having been founded in New Hampshire at an early period in its his- 
tor^^ Solomon Rowe, the father of our subject, was born in the old Granite 
state, and married Miss Betsey Richardson, of Maine, a lady of Revolu- 
tionary ancestry. Their union was blessed w'ith nine children, but only four 
are now living. The father was an industrious farmer, and had large tracts 
of land, which were largely operated b}' his sons, while he devoted his time 
to the work of the ministry as a preacher of the Baptist denomination, leav- 
ing his home in order to pronounce a wedding ceremony or perform the last 
^ad rites over the departed. His life was an honorable and helpful one and 
he made many friends, who deeply mourned his loss when at the age of sixty 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. J153 

years he was called to his final home. His wife passed away at the age of 
sixty-seven years. 

Mr. Rowe of this review was the youngest of the family. He attended 
the public schools and when about fourteen years of age left home to make 
his own way in the world, walking fifty miles alone to Bangor, Maine, where 
he bound himself for three years to John Wingate to learn the carriage 
makers' trade, being paid thirty dollars for the first year and sixty for the 
second, but during the third year he concluded that his employer was not 
treating him fairly and left him. He then went to work in a locomotive fac- 
tory, in which he was paid a dollar and a half per day. After remaining 
there for two years he took passage on a sailing vessel for San Francisco. 
The ship was the Orizaba. }ie had gone aboard as a stowaway, intending 
to work his passage, and washed dishes during the voyage. When he ar- 
rived in San Francisco he blacked boots, for which he was sometimes paid 
a dollar, but soon he got employment which offered better opportunities. 

In 1856 Mr. Rowe returned to New Hampshire and entered the employ" 
of Abbott & Downmg, carriage manufacturers, and remained there five years 
and in April, 1861, again went to California, sailing on the steamer North 
Star from New York. The vessel encountered a severe storm, in which 
it lost a mast and was then obliged to put into port for repairs. Upon his 
return to San Francisco Mr. Rowe secured employment with Kilbourne & 
Bent, carriage manufacturers, at the comer of Third and Market streets. 
.A.t first he was paid five dollars per day and was thai put in charge of the 
shop, working by the piece. In this way he made from sixty to seventy dol- 
lars per week. In 1862 he went to Honolulu to take charge of a carriage 
shop there, but did not like the place and after three months returned to 
San Francisco. Afterward he "went east to Topeka, Kansas, and remained 
there one year, then going to Newton, Kansas, and started the first store in 
that town, hauling the lumber for thirty miles with which to build his store. 
There he secured an extensive business and when the Santa Fe Railroad was 
built he shipped his goods by the carload, but Newton became a very hard 
to\^Ti. Drunken Texas cowboj's aiid railroad men, engaged in building the 
Santa Fe, were continually figliting and while Mr. Rowe was in Newton 
thirty-se\en men and one "woman were killed. A ball crashed through his 
store window, passed over his head and lodged on the shelves behind him. 
Soon afterward he closed out his business there and went to Pueblo, Colo- 
rado, and was in business there for two years, after which he returned to 
California, where he was iU for some time. 

In 1875 Mr. Rowe came to Seattle and started a small store on Front 



154 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

avenue, at the toot of Clierry street, having a small stock of groceries worth 
two hundred and thiry dollars. He had lost almost everything he had made 
and on account of his illness had been reduced in weight to one hundred and 
fifteen pounds. He sold his goods at a small profit and soon built up a fine 
trade. Mr. Yesler built a store for him and he continued the business with 
success for nine years. In the meantime he had invested in city property 
when realty was very cheap and it was considered very foolish to put one's 
money in property here. .Mr. Rowe sold out his business and was very ill 
for two years, but his health improved and he turned his attention to his prop- 
•erty interests. Where his fine residence now stands in the midst of a beauti- 
ful and populous city, there was a timber tract. He obtained five acres for 
four hundred dollars, has a splendid residence thereon now and the property 
■is very valuable. On Front street he built six stores, which brought him 
;-good rental. He also became engaged in the carriage business and had a 
large repository and sold many carriages. He has lately built fifteen flats 
'On Union street, at a cost of over twenty tkousand dollars. In this enterprise 
he was associated with the Hon. C. P. Stone, and they were very success- 
ful, purchasing their carriages in car lots. They had control of the goods 
of the Cortland, New York, factory and other factories and did a large busi- 
ness. He bought his partner's interest in the business and gradually closed 
•out the stock, retiring from active business except for the supervision of 
■his city propery. He has property which he purchased for six 
liundred dollars, which is now worth forty thousand. He now has at Port 
Orchard a town site of forty acres, which he has platted and is selling, having 
named it Veneta, in honor of his daughter of that name. The place joins 
Bremerton, the government navy yard, and the property is selling rapidly at 
good figures. In 1893 he went to the Colville reservation and located the 
Veneta gold mine. It is capitalized for $700,000 and is a fine property. Mr. 
Rowe is the president and treasurer of the company and has a controlling in- 
terest in the stock. 

Mr. Rowe has been twice married. In 1856 he wedded Miss Cynthia 
Clifford, and they had one daughter, Lizzie Ella, the wife of C. F. Dean: 
Mr. Rowe afterward married Miss Miranda F. Hummel and they have a 
daughter, Veneta, wdio is now the wife of Edward Maxwell. 

Mr. Rowe has always had firm faith in Seattle, believing that it would be- 
come a great city and time has proven the wisdom of his opinions. He has 
made the golden rule the leading principle of his life and has risen from a 
lowly position to one of afifluence in financial and social circles. 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 15s 

FREDERICK H. HURD. 

Frederick Hairy Hurd, of Seattle, is one of tlie representative business 
men of the city, where he is engaged in dealing in hay, grain, flour and feed. 
He has made his home here since 1S87, coming from Missouri. He was 
born in Clinton, Middlesex county, Connecticut, on the /th of October, 1843, 
and is of English lineage, his ancestors having emigrated from England to 
America at a very early epoch in our colonial history. There were three 
brothers who came together, and one of them, Nathaniel Flurd, the great- 
grandfather of our subject, became a resident of Pennsylvania. His son. 
Nathaniel Flurd, the grandfather of our subject, \\as captain of a brig en- 
gaged in trade with the West Indies, and at the time of the Revolutionary 
war he and his vessel were captured by the English. He lost the brig and 
was himself held as a prisoner at Calais until the close of hostilities, after 
which he continued the life of a sea captain. In religious faith he was a 
Universalist, was a man of upright character and lived to the age of seventy- 
nine years. 

Nathaniel Albert Hurd, the father of Frederick H. Flurd, was born in 
Clinton, Connecticut, and after arriving at years of maturity married Miss 
Mary Wright, who was bom in the same county — Middlesex. They became 
the parents of seven children. The eldest son, Edwin Albert, was a volunteer 
in the Union Army, was wounded in the battle of Fort Henry and died in 
the hospital at Ouincy, Illinois. Another son, Alva A., is a Presbyterian min- 
ister, now acting as pastor of a church in Portland, Oregon. One of the 
daughters, Mrs. Mary Dudley, is county superintendent of schools in Iowa, 
while her brother, George Benjamin Hurd, has been principal of the schools 
of New Haven, Connecticut, for fifteen j'ears, and for nine years filled a 
similar position in Bridgeport, Massachusetts. He is also connected with a 
boot and shoe business in New Haven. 

Frederick Henry Hurd pursued his education in the public schools and 
the academy of his nati\e city and put aside liis text books in order to enter 
the Union army in answer to President Lincoln's call for troops. He be- 
came a member of Company G, Fourteenth Connecticut Infantry, in July. 
1862, participated in the battle of y\.ntietam, in several skirmishes and in the 
battle of Fredericksburg. He was with the Army of the Potomac until after 
t!ie battle of the \\'ilderness, fought under command of General Hooker, 
wiien his health failed him and he was forced to remain in the hospital for a 
short time. He was once slightly wounded by a shot that killed two an 1 
wounded five others and on another occasion his canteen was pierced by a 



156 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

bullet. At tiie close of the war it was his gooil fortune to participate in the 
grand review, a memorable occasion, as it was the most celebrated military 
pageant ever seen on the western hemisphere. In June, 1865, he was mus- 
tered out and gladly retiuned to his home, for though he had been a brave 
and loyal soldier, like others throughout the north and south he felt great 
relief when the long contest was over. 

IMr. Hurd remained in his native town for about eight months after the 
war and then went to Michigan, but scon afterward located in Quincy, Illi- 
nois, where he learned the miller's trade and was for some time engaged in 
the milling business, rising to the position of head miller in a mill having a 
capacity of one hundred barrels of flour per day. Subsequently he removed 
to Clarksville, Missouri, where he successfully engaged in milling on his 
own account for eight years, but his mill was then destroyed by fire and he 
lost all that he had made. He then established another mill, of which he was 
superintendent, but being troubled with malaria he determined to seek 
another climate and removed to Lewis county, \\'^ashington, in 1884. Three 
years later he came to Seattle, arriving in the month of August. He has since 
conducted a good business here in grain, flour, feed and hay, securing a good 
patronage and winning public confidence by honorable methods and dealing. 

In 1868 Mr. Hurd was united in marriage to Miss Julia Catherine Lit- 
tlejohn, a member of the prominent family of that name. Bishop Littlejohn, 
the renowned divine, being her uncle. Mr. and Mrs. Hurd were accom- 
panied on their removal to the west by their three children : Jessie Emmal, 
who is now the wife of R. G. Holly, of Seattle; Mary Grace, who is now 
acting as her father's bookkeeper; and Leroy, who is also associated with his 
father in business. The family have many friends in the community, the 
members of the household occupying an enviable position in social circles. 

Mr. Hurd has been a life-long Republican, having firm faith in the prin- 
ciples of the party as conserving the best interests of the national govern- 
ment as well as local welfare. From 1894 to 1898 he w^as a member of the 
city council of Seattle, and w'as re-elected for a term of two years, which 
indicates his personal popularity and the confidence reposed in him by his 
fellow townsmen. He was chairman of the important committee on finance, 
also of the committee on fire and water, and has been instrumental in pro- 
moting many measures of value to the city. He assisted in securing the 
splendid water system, unsurpassed in any city of the size in the country, 
and was also active in securing the paving of Pike street, which is in his own 
ward. He and his family are valued members of the Plymouth Congrega- 
tional clnirch, in which he has ser\ed as deacon, while now he is a trustee. 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. i57 

He is also a prominent member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and was 
inspector general for the department of Washington and Alaska. He also 
served as district deputy and aided in organizing a number of posts in Mis- 
souri. As the years have passed Mr. Hurd has invested in city property and 
now has some very valuable realty in Seattle. His trade relations, too, have 
been an excellent source of income, and from the time of his return from the 
war Mr. Hurd has steadily advanced in the business world, overcoming diffi- 
culties and obstacles and working his way upward to a position of affluence 
and honor. 

RICHARD C. JOHNSTON. 

Nature has seemed to designate the kind of business which shall be the 
dominant industry of different localities. The great forests provide occupa- 
tion for the lumbermen, the broad plains and rich prairies make agriculture 
the logical occupation of the settlers and the mineral resources of 
still other divisions of the country seem to indicate that mining shall 
be tlie chief labor of the people there. The rich ore deposits of central 
Washington leave no question as to the principal pursuit of those who inhabit 
this section of the state, and one of the leading representatives of mining 
interests here is Richard C. Johnston, of Seattle. 

A native of the state of Iowa, he was there born in Dubuque on the 13th 
of January, 1847, and is of old English ancestry, who were among the early 
settlers of New England. His paternal grandfather became a prominent 
factor in the early history of Ohio, and in that commonwealth his son, Charles 
B. Jolinston, was born. The latter was married in the state of his nativity, 
to Miss Catherine Smith, also a native of the Buckeye state, and they be- 
came prominent farming people and the parents of seven children. From 
Ohio they removed to Iowa, and in 1852. with his wife and se\-en children, 
Mr. Johnston set out on the long and arduous journey across the plains to 
California, with two ox and two horse teams, five months being spent on the 
way. As the father had previously fought in the Black Hawk war he was 
able to protect himself and family from the Indians, and the journey was 
therefore made in safety. On their arrival in the Golden state they took 
up their abode at Lakeport, Sierra county, and in that commonwealth the 
parents continued to reside until their labors were ended in death, the father 
passing away in 1883, in his seventy-third year, while his wife survived him 
many years, dying in 1901, at the age of eighty-six years. Six of their seven 
children are now li\-ing. 



iSS REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

Richard C. JulinsUm was l)ut live years of age when he was taken ijy his 
parents to the Pacific coast, and in the pubhc schools of the Golden state he 
received his educational training. At the early age of eighteen years he 
engaged in mining pursuits, while later his attention was claimed by the livery 
and stock business, and in both lines of endeavor he met with success. In 
1880 he visited the state of Washington, and in 1897 he took up his perma- 
nent abode in Seattle. In addition to his extensive holdings in this state he 
is also interested in oil and coal mines in Alaska, the property being bonded to 
an English company for two million and a half dollars, and they are now 
developing the claims. Mr. Johnston is interested in a copper, gold and silver 
mine at Darrington, Snohomish county, Washington, where the ore yields 
an average of twenty dollars a ton, and this is considered a very valuable 
property. 

The marriage of Air. Johnston was celebrated m Humboldt county, Cali- 
fornia, when Miss Clara C. Runyon became his wife. She is a native of Wis- 
consin, and this union has been blessed with four children, — Frank P., Ray 
C, Pearl J. and Carrie Ann. Religiously Mr. and Mrs. Johnston are Chris- 
tian Scientists. Politically our subject affiliates with the Republican party, 
in the councils and work of which he is active and influential, and while re- 
siding in California he served for some years as a deputy sheriff. He has filled 
all the ofiices in the Knights of Pythias fraternity and is also a member of 
the order of Foresters. As a citizen he is esteemed for his public spirit and 
his helpfulness toward all worthy measures. 

SHERWOOD GILLESPY. 

Sherwood Gillespy, the general agent of the IMutual Life Insurance 
Company of New York, came to Seattle in his present capacity in 1896 and 
has since had jurisdiction over the territory of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, 
British Columbia and Alaska. He is a man of excellent business and ex- 
ecutive ability and the company which he represents finds him a valued factor 
in the control of their business in the northwest. 

Mr. Gillespy was born in Saugerties, New York, on the 4th of Novem- 
ber, 1853, and is of Scotch lineage, although at an early day in the history 
of Ulster county, New '^'ork, the family was established in Saugerties. The 
great-grandfather, John I. Gillesjjy. the grandfather, John Gillespy, 
and the father, Peter Gillespy, as well as the subject of this review, w-ere all 
born on the old family homestead there, and there Peter Gillespy is still 
living in tl;c ninety-third year of his age. This i)roperty has been in pos- 





c^^^ 



f^-ty-^ 




SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. I59 

session of the family for two hundred and fifty years. John I. Gillespy, the 
great-grandfather, joined the American army at the time of the Revolu- 
tionary war and served with the rank of captain in the struggle for inde- 
pendence, while John Gillespy, the grandfather, was a soldier in the war of 
1 812. Peter Gillespy was for many years engaged in merchandising in New 
York city, and later turned his attention to the banking business, 
but is now living a retired life. He married JMiss Caroline Nering, 
of Catskill, New York. They were valued members of the Dutch Reformed 
Presbyterian church and very prominent people in Saugerties. In their fam- 
ily were four sons and a daughter, of whom three are still living. 

Mr. Gillespy of this review is the only one on the Pacific coast. He 
was educated in the public schools of his native town, after which he was 
engaged in the dry goods business in Albany, New York, for five years, 
with John G. IMeyers. He then turned his attention to the life insurance 
business, becoming connected with the Northwestern Life Insurance Com- 
pany, of Milwaukee, with which he was connected for five years. Since that 
lime he has been with the Mutual Life Insurance Company, of New York, 
covering twenty years. As their general agent he came to Seattle in 1896, 
taking charge of their extensive business in the northwest, with headquarters 
at Seattle, and has met with very gratifying success here, his service being 
highly satisfactory to the company and profitable to both the company and 
himself. When he came to Seattle he purchased for the company the Mutual 
Life Building, which he had remodeled and fitted up with all the latest im- 
provements, making it one of the most elegantly equipped oftice buildings in 
the northwest. He recently purchased the adjoining property for fifty thou- 
sand dollars and will erect a seventy-thousand-dollar building. It has proved 
for the company a paying investment. Mr. Gillespy is regarded by the com- 
pany as one of its best and most capable general agents and he also enjoys 
the confidence, good will and esteem of the business public of Seattle. 

In 1885 was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Gillespy and Miss Maria 
Z. Simpson, a native of New York city and a daughter of Wilson Simp- 
son, of that place. They now have three children: Ella L., Robert S. and 
Carrie N. He and his family are members of the Episcopalian church and 
are people of prominence in the community, the hospitality of many of 
the best homes of Seattle being extended to them. Mr. Gillespy has become 
deeply interested in Seattle and its welfare since becoming identified with the 
city and has contributed to its upbuilding. He was one of the organizers 
of the Independent Telephone Company, a long-distance line of this city, and 
is found as the champion of many movements for the general good. 



i6q represextatr'e citizens of 

ursula wyckoff. 

Mrs. Ursula \VyckofT, who has made her liome in Seattle during the 
past fifty years, has the credit of being the first white woman to locate in what 
is now South Seattle. Slie nobly bore the trials and hardships incident to a 
life on the frontier, and now in her declining years is blessed with, the love 
and respect of all who have the pleasure of her acquaintance. She was born 
in Clarksville, Missouri, on the 25th of June, 1827, and is the daughter of 
Jolin Hughes. He was of North Carolina nativity but became an early set- 
tler of both Kentucky and Missouri, where he reared a large family of eight 
children, two sons and six daughters. He departed this life in the fifty-fifth 
year of his age, passing away in the faith of the Methodist church, of which 
he was long a worthy and consistent membei'. 

Mrs. Wyckofit, the only survivor of this once large family, was reared 
to young womanhood in Missouri, and on tlie nth of June, 1846, she there 
ga\'e her hand in marriage to George N. McConaha, a native of Ohio. In 
1850 they crossed the plains to Sacramento, California, and during the long 
journey their second child was born, its place of nativity being near Fort 
Henry, and they gave her her mother's name of Ursula. The journey was 
accomplished in safety, and after their arrival in the Golden state they set- 
tled in the then new town of Sacramento, where Mr. McConaha resumed the 
practice of law. His ability as a leader soon became recognized, and he was 
made a member of the state legislature. In 1852, with his wife and little 
family, he started for Portland, Oregon, going Ijy way of Seattle, where his 
wife and children remained while he continued on his journey. He had 
previously been promised the high office of judge on his removal to Portland, 
but from some cause did not receive the appointment and he accordingly re- 
turned to his family in Seattle, where he again took up the practice of his pro- 
fession. During the following winter he was elected a member of the ter- 
ritorial council, of which he was made president, and while returning to his 
home after the close of the session he, with Captain Boston and two Indians 
that were with thein in the boat, were drowned, and Mr. McConaha's body 
was never recovered. His widow and her three little children suffered a 
sad bereavement, but -iftcr partially recovering from the terrible shock of her 
loss she took up the battle of life with the courage and fortitude which has 
ever characterized her course. She worked at any occupation that presented 
itself in order to support her little family, thus laboring in their behalf for 
seven years. On the 29th of August. 1859, she was united in marriage to 
Lewis V. W'vckoff, a nati\e of New York, and at tlie time of their marriage 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. i&i 

he was serving as liead sa\v}er in a large mill. After a time, however, he 
was electee] sheriff of King county, in which position he continuously served 
for twenty-two years, and the efficiency with which he discharged the duties 
incumbent upon him in this important office is attested by his long continu- 
ance therein. During the riot of 1882 his duties were very exciting and dan- 
gerous, and from the efifect of his arduous service he died suddenly of heart 
disease on the 20th of February-, 1882. He was a trustworty and reliable 
official, a loving and indulgent husband and father and a kind and considerate 
neighbor, and his loss was felt by the entire community. He left to his widow 
a good property, which has increased in value as the years ha\'e passed by, 
until she is now able to enjoy all the comforts and many of the luxuries of life. 
Mrs. W'yckofif's eldest son, George M. McConaha, was born in 1848, 
and his education was received in the schools of New York city and in the 
^^'ashington University. After completing his literary education he began 
the study of law under the preceptorage of Pfon. John J. McGilvery, and was 
admitted to practice when but twenty-one years of age. In the same fall he 
was elected a member of the territorial legislature, and on the expiration of his 
term of ser\ace he was made the prosecuting attorney of King county. While 
thus serving Judge Han ford read law in his office. Mrs. Wychoff's second 
son, John Vandyne Wyckofif, was born in 1S62, and on attaining to mature 
years he was made dqjuty sheriff under Hon. John H. McGraw, and he also 
served in that capacity under Sheriff Cochran. He was later appointed and 
served as custom house officer, but has also been a member of the cit}- fire de- 
partment and now resides with his mother. Her daughters have passed away. 
Eugene ilcConaha resided with her mother until the 21st of March, 1890, 
when she was called to her final rest, passing away at the age of forty-four 
years. Mrs. Wyckoff became converted to the Christian faith vei-y early in 
life, and is now the only surviving member who joined the first Presbyterian 
church at its organization, and in which she has ever been a faithful and val- 
ued member. Her life has been filled with many privations and hardships, 
but through all her Christian fortitude has sustained her, and she is now one 
of the loved and esteemed pioneers of Seattle. 

JOHN R. WILLIAMSON. 

John R. Williamson, a worthy pioneer of Seattle, who crossed the plains 
in 1852 and has since made his home on the Pacific slope, is a native of Al- 
bany county. New York, born February 14, 1826, and is descended from 
good old Revolutionary stock, his paternal grandfather, John W^illiamson, 



i62 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

having fought througli the entire war for independence. He was one of the 
fifteen hundred men who vohuiteered to attack the Enghsh in their camp 
at twelve o'clock at night. They were at first repulsed, but the army soon 
afterward landed and were victorious. It was in this engagement that Ar- 
nold lost his leg. .Mr. \\ illiamson was present at the surrender of Lord Com- 
wallis and his army. He was of Quaker ancestry and lived to the advanced 
age of ninety years. 

Peter Williamson, the father of our subject, was born within sixteen 
miles of Albany, New York, and on reaching manhood married Miss Sarah 
Olin, who was a native of Montgomery county. New York, and was also a 
Quaker by birthright. By occupation he was a merchant. He died at tlie 
age of sixty-six years and his wife was seventy-eight at the time of her death. 
In the family of this worthy couple were five children, three of whom are 
still living, namely: John R., of this review; Mary, now the widow of James 
Visher; and Susan, wife of IM. R. Maddox. All make their home in Seattle. 

After the death of his father John R. Williamson went to live with his 
grandfather. He had little opportunity to attend school, but, possessing a 
genius for mechanics, he soon mastered the blacksmith's trade. In early life 
he became a subscriber for the Scientific American and has since been a con- 
stant reader of that magazine. He is thoroughly posted on steam engines 
and engineering, of which he has made somewhat of a hobby, and is consid- 
ered authority on everj'thing pertaining to steam engines and combustion. 
Because of his great knowledge of these subjects he is familiarly called "Old 
Combustion," at which title he takes no offense, and it is believed that on 
the laws of combustion he has no equal in the great northwest. To the Scien- 
tific American he gives the credit for his extensi\e knowledge on these sub- 
jects. 

As before stated, Mr. Williamson came overland to the Pacific coast in 
1852, and went direct to the mines in Yuba county, California, but met with 
but small success in his mining operations. AVe ne.xt find him in San Fran- 
cisco, where he worked at his trade of blacksmithing, but after spending two 
years in California he removed to Port Gamble, NVashington, where he found 
employment witli the firm of Pope & Talbert, now the Puget Mill Company, 
with whom he remained two years and a half as a general mechanic and 
machinist, receiving one hundred and fifty dollars per month and board in 
compensation for his labors. On leaving the firm he was asked if he had 
kept an account of his extra work, and on replying that he had not he was 
presented with a check for seven hundred and fifty dollars above his monthly 
wages, so highly were his services appreciated by the company. 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 163 

Mr. Williamson then turned his attention to lumbering and the sawmill 
business, building a good mill at Seabeck, which he operated for four years 
with good success. He sold out in 1863 and removed to West .Seattle, where 
he opened a sawmill and machine shop, doing all kinds of machine work and 
repairing. The machinist tools were subsequently sold to the Moran Broth- 
ers, who have made it one of the most important enterprises of the kind in the 
state. Subsequently Mr. Williamson engaged in building and running steam- 
boats, among which were the Etta White, the Celilo and the Mary Woodruf, 
which he finally sold and retired from that business. Smce then his services 
have been in great demand as an expert machinist in setting up and putting 
in operation machinery of all kinds and making expert reports. Although 
now well advanced in years he still takes great delight in the business on which 
he has so thoroughly posted himself. 

In 1857 Mr. Williamson married Miss Julia Finn, a native of Ireland, 
and two children blessed this union. William, now captain of the Floyer ply- 
ing between Seattle and Tacoma, was bom at Seabeck, Washington, and was 
practically reared at sea. He could sail a .'■hip and had a captain's license 
W'hen only fifteen years of age. Although the law prohibited so young a 
man from commanding a boat, he was so thoroughly skilled in the art that 
he was made an exception to the rule, and is to-day one of the most popular 
and experienced captains on the Sound. In 1899 he married Mary Ann 
Fagin, and has two children. Mary, the daughter of our subject, is now the 
wife of Mat McElroy, of Seattle, who is engaged in the logging business. 
The wife and mother departed this life in 1894. She was a noble woman 
and too much cannot be said in her praise. 

Mr. Williamson has never joined any religious or secret societies, but is 
a believer in the Great Architect of the Universe, and his upright, honorable 
life has gained for him the confidence and high regard of all with whom he 
has been brought in contact. Politically he has been a life-long Democrat. 

HAROLD PRESTON. 

Harold Preston was born at Rockford, Illinois, on the 29th of September, 
jSsS, and comes of a family which for several generations had been estab- 
lished in the east. His father. Simon ]\I. Preston, was born in Vermont and 
married Martha H. Sargent. Prior to the Ci\-il war he removed to 
Illinois, and when the slavery question brought on the great Rebellion he 
offered his services to the government to aid in the preservation of the Lhiion. 
He held the rank of captain and served on the staff of General Hallock, later 



i64 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

becoming colonel of the iMfty-second Mississippi Colored Regiment, and for 
gallant and meritorious services was bre\ etted l)y President Lincoln a briga- 
dier-general. After the war was over he remained in the south, as president 
of the first freedmen's bureau and was also internal revenue collctor for the 
first district of Mississippi, which appointment he received from" President 
Grant. During his residence in the south he was also chief engineer of the 
Natchez, Jackson & Columbus Railroad. In 1874 he removed to Iowa, was 
engaged in railroad building and became chief engineer of the Chicago, Bur- 
lington & Pacific Railroad Company. In 1891 he came to Seattle and at 
the age of seventy-nine years is now living retired from active business. He 
has been a stalwart Republican from the organization of the party and enjoys 
the high respect which is ever given to an honorable and worthy life. Unto 
him and his wife were born three sons and a daughter, all of whom are now 
residents of Seattle. 

In the public schools of Natchez, Mississippi, Harold Preston obtained 
his elementary education, which was supplemented by study in Iowa College, 
and by a course in Cornell University. He read law in Iowa, 
Avas admitted to the bar there in 1883 and immediately afterward came to 
Seattle, where he engaged in the practice of his profession. In 1885 he 
formed a partnership with E. M. Carr, which has since been continued, in 
1897 Mr. Oilman became a- member of the firm under the style of Preston, 
Carr & Oilman, and they are engaged in the general practice of law. 

Since acquiring the right of franchise Mr. Preston has been an earnest 
Republican, and his efforts in behalf of the party have not been without re- 
sult. In 1898 he was elected to the state senate, in which body he was made 
chairman of the railroad committee and member of the judiciary committee. 
He is the author of the railroad commission bill, which unfortunately was 
defeated. 

In 1887 Mr. Preston was married to Miss Augusta ]Morgenstern. a na- 
tive of San Francisco, and they have two children, Theresa and Frank. Mr. 
Preston belongs to the Rainier and the Athletic Clubs. 

ISAAC PARKER. 

Almost a half century has passed since Isaac Parker came to the terri- 
tory of Washington and sinte the 2nd of January, 1851, he has resided upon 
the Pacific coast, for on that day he arrived at San Francisco. Time and 
man have wrought many changes in the western district of ihe country dur- 
ing its decades, and no one has taken a more commendable pride and interest 




^ oL 



^^^^d-^^^^ yg^^^^ 



C^/^ 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 165 

in the public welfare and progress than Isaac Parker, who as a loyal and 
progressive citizen has contributed his full share to the general good. A 
native of Massachusetts, he was born in Waltham on the 4th of March, 1829, 
the day on which President Jackson was first inaugurated as the chief execu- 
tive of the nation. The family is of English lineage and the first of the name 
to seek a home in America was Thomas Parker, who left his native England 
in 1635 and became a resident of New England. He traced his ancestry 
back in England to the twelfth century and the family has been one of prom- 
inence, both in the mother country and in the new world. Many of its rep- 
resentatives gained eminence and distinction in various walks of professional 
life. Among the number is Theodore Parker, so widely known throughout 
this land. The great-grandfather of our subject removed to Ohio and be- 
came one of its first settlers, while Isaac Parker, the grandfather, was there 
born and reared. His son, who also bore the name of Isaac, and who be- 
came the father of our subject, was bom in Watertown, Massachusetts, Jan- 
uary 19, 1802. He married Miss Lucy Dinsmore, a native of Lunenburg, 
Massachusetts, and devoted the greater part of his life to agricultural pur- 
suits. He made his home in Waltham, where he occupied a prominent posi- 
tion in public regard. For forty years he served as a deacon in the Uni- 
tarian church and died on the ist of October, 1875, at the age of seventy- 
three years, respected by all who knew him. His wife survived him and 
passed away in her eighty-sixth year. He had been very prominent in edu- 
cational affairs and was one of the organizers of the Rumfort Institute, in 
connection with which was a very costly and extensive library. Mrs. Parker 
was a lady of superior culture and refinement, who left the impress of her 
individuality upon the minds and characters of her children. Five of her 
nine children are yet living, one of the daughters — ]Mrs. Mary H. Lewis — 
being now a resident of San Francisco. The others are in Lowell and Walt- 
ham, Massachusetts. 

Isaac Parker was the second in order of birth in the family and was 
reared and educated in Waltham. He learned the machinist's trade in Bos- 
ton and followed that pursuit for three years. Dxiring the close of that period 
he assisted in building the first locomotive sent to California. He came with 
it, making the voyage around Cape Horn, for to him was assigned the duty 
of putting the engine together and seeing that it was in successful operation. 
He secured a position in what aftenvard became the Union Iron Works, 
where he remained until the 9th of February, 1853, when he came to Puget 
Sound to build a sawmill at what was then Apple Tree Cove, but is now 
*he city of Kingston. He continued as master mechanic for the company for 



166 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

about four years, receiving one hundred and fifty dollars per month and his 
expenses. lie also worked at Utsaladdy in the same capacity until Novem- 
ber, i860, at which time he accepted a cargo of lumber for his work, char- 
tered the ship Leonidas and with his lumber proceeded to China, where he 
found a ready sale for the cargo at remunerative prices. After visiting Yoko- 
hama and other points in Japan, he returned to San Francisco and thence to 
Puget Sound, where he once more entered the service of the company by 
which he had formerly been employed. Soon afterward he became inter- 
ested in a company carrj'ing lumber and machinery to Shanghai, China, 
and there engaged in the construction of a steamer to sail on one of 
the large rivers of that country. Intent on that enterprise he set sail on 
the Jet¥ Davis, but on arriving at San Francisco he sold his interest in the 
enterprise and in 1864 went to lower California to superintend the erection 
of a quartz mill, where he remained as master mechanic for three years. 
Since that time he has been engaged in mechanical work on Puget Sound, 
and at the first establishment of a local board of inspectors of steam vessels 
for Washington territory in 1872 he was appointed inspector of steam boilers, 
being the first to fill that position on the sound. He early became interested 
in Seattle city property and has the credit of erecting the first brick house 
built in the city for rental purposes. He also erected a frame dwelling, but 
lost both in the great fire of 1889. Like many other enterprising men he 
then built two brick blocks known as the Parker blocks, also a handsome 
residence which he occupies. His home is a beautiful and attractive resi- 
dence on a lawn which is one hundred and twenty by one hundred and twenty 
feet. The lot is valued at twelve thousand dollars and the residence was 
erected at a cost of seventeen thousand dollars, its location being No. 1 1 20 
Eighth avenue. From this handsome abode Mr. Parker can look out over 
the city which he has helped to build and whose interests have been materially 
advanced through his efforts. 

On the 9th of September, 1867, Mr. Parker was united in marriage in 
Seattle to Miss Lydia G. Rowell, a native of Brewer, Maine. Three sons 
have been born unto them : George F., who is an electrician and engineer ; 
Benjamin S., a marine engineer; and Isaac C, who is at home with his par- 
ents. The family have a wide acquaintance in Seattle and their circle of 
friends is almost coextensive. Mr. Parker is an exemplary member of the 
Masonic fraternity, having received the sublime degree of a Master Mason 
in Mission Lodge, No. 169, F. & A. M., of San Francisco. He is a past 
master of the blue lodge, and past junior grand warden of the grand lodge 
of Washington. He also belongs to Seattle Chapter, No. i, R. A. M., and 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 167 

Seattle Commander}-, No. 2, K. T., while in the Scottish Rite he is a shriner and 
has attained the Thirty-second degree of the consistory. He is also a valued 
member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and past noble grand and 
has been sent as a representative to the grand commandery of his state. He 
e.xercises his right of franchise in support of the men and measures of the 
Republican party and in 1888 he was chosen by his fellow citizens to the 
position of treasurer of Seattle. In all the relations of life this brave pio- 
neer of 185 1 has shown himself to be an upright citizen, enterprising and 
competent in business and at all times worthy of the esteem which is uni- 
formly extended to him. Coming to the west in its pioneer days, his labors 
have been of the greatest benefit in the line of mechanical construction upon 
the Pacific coast and his efforts have ever been directed along the lines of the 
greatest good to the greatest number. 

CORLISS P. STONE. 

Forty years have passed since Corliss P. Stone became a resident of 
Seattle and in this period he has contributed in large measure to the exten- 
sion and improvement of the city through his real-estate operations, while 
his business activity along other lines has promoted commercial prosperity. 
He arrived here in February, 1862, and through the intervening period has 
steadily advanced until he now occupies a leading position among the men 
of prominence here. 

Mr. Stone was born in Franklin county, Vermont, on the 20th of March, 
1838, and is of English linejige, although for many generations representa- 
tives of the family have been residents of America, the great-great-great- 
grandfather having been one of the early colonial settlers of Connecticut, while 
Benjamin Stone, the grandfather of our subject, served in the Colonial army 
during the war of the Revolution. He was identified with the Congregational 
church in religious faith and lived to the advanced age of eighty-six years. 
He married a Miss Corliss, a member of the family that became famous as 
the manufacturers of the Corliss steam engines. James Corliss Stone, the 
father of our subject, was born in Connecticut and married Miss Charlotte 
Lathrope, a native of Chelsea, Vermont, and she, too, was of English lineage 
and a representative of an old Vermont family. She attained the age of 
sixty-six years, while Mr. Stone reached the venerable age of eighty-four 
years. For a number of years he held the office of justice of the peace, and 
. his decisions were rendered without partiality or bias. Both Mr. and Mrs. 
Stone were active and devout members of the Congregational church and 



i68 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

their labors contributed to its upbuilding. Their family consisted of three 
sons and three daughters. 

Corliss P. Stone was educated in St. Johnsbury, Vermont, attending 
the public schools and the academy there, and entered upon his business career 
as a clerk in a drj'-goods store. Later he engaged in business on his own 
account for three years before coming to the Pacific coast. He made the 
voyage around the Horn in the Archer, a clipper ship, which in a gale lost 
a mast and was in imminent peril, but she stopped for repairs and afterward 
continued the voyage in safety, casting anchor in the harbor of San Fran- 
cisco after one hundred and ten days. Mr. Stone had followed Horace 
Greeley's advice to young men and had come to the west, hoping to find good 
Ijusiness opportunities in this section of the country. He possessed a strong 
body, willing hands and a clear head, but little else to serve him as capital. 
His first work in Washington was at Port Madison, where he was employed 
as a salesman in a store lor f'.xe years. In 1867 he established a store of his 
own in Seattle and conducted a successful business until 1884, when he sold 
out and became interested in city veal estate. Many other enterprises have 
also claimed his attention and he is widely known as a man of resourceful 
business ability, who not only has the talent for planning successful enter- 
prises but also the ability to put them into good working order. He became 
one of the organizers of the Union Electric Company, furnishing light and 
power for the city, and is now the president of the Cascade Laundry Com- 
pany, which is doing a large business in the city. He also continues his opera- 
tions in Seattle real estate and has platted several additions to the city, 
the first being in 1884. This was the Lake Union addition, including 
one himdred and sixty acres of land, on which great improvements have 
been made. His next was the Edgewater addition of thirty acres, which is 
also all built up at the present time. He then platted Stone's extension to the 
same addition, w'hich has also been improved, many fine buildings having been 
erected there. He is now handling the C. P. Stone home addition, of twenty 
acres, adjoining Lake Union. It will thus be seen that he has been a promi- 
nent factor in the improvement and upbuilding of the city -iind has done his 
full share toward the promotion of many movements which have contributed 
to the public welfare aside from his individual interests. 

In 1864 Mr. Stone was married to Clara Boyd, and unto them were 
born two children, but only one is now living — Corliss L., who is now in the 
cfiice of his father, and is a young man of excellent business ability. In 
1874 Mr. Stone was again married, his second union being with Almira L. 
Crossnian, a native of Montreal, Canada. In politics he has been a lifelong 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 169 

Repttblican and had the honor of being elected mayor of the city in 1872. 
He exercised his official prerogatives for the improvement and substantial 
progress of Seattle and has labored earnestly for the advancement of this part 
of the state. Regarded as a citizen and in his social relations, he belongs 
to that public-spirited, useful and helpful class of men whose ambitions and 
desires are centered and directed in those channels through which flow the 
greatest and most permanent good to the greatest number. 

TIMOTHY D. HINCKLEY. 

For more than a half century Timothy Duane Hinckley has resided on the 
Pacific coast and for forty-nine years has been a resident of Seattle, which he 
has seen emerge from villageliood to take rank with the most important 
cities of the great northwest. No man has felt a keener interest in the 
progress and development of the place or labored more earnestly and inde- 
fatigably for its improve.rient. The fine brick block on Second street which 
bears his name stands as a monument to his business thrift and enterprise 
and he also owns a fine farm in the suburbs. 

Mr. Hinckley is a native of St. Claire county, Illinois, born on the 30th 
of June, 1827, and is a descendant of the Hinckleys who were pioneer settlers 
of Hamilton county, Ohio. His father, Timothy Hinckley, was born in 
Maine, and followed the ship carpenter's trade in Bath until 1816. when he 
removed to Ohio. He was married to Hannah Smith, a native of his 
own town in Maine, and after making their home in Ohio for a time they 
removed to St. Clair county, Illinois. Mr. Hinckley owned a farm there 
and also worked at the builder's trade in St. Louis, Missouri. In politics he 
was a Whig and for a number of years acceptably filled the office of justice of 
the peace. He and his wife were valued members of the Baptist church. 
He died at the age of fifty-five years and his wife survived him for some 
time, passing away at about the same age. They had eleven children, of 
whom but three are living. One of the daughters is Maria Louise, the 
wife of the Hon. John B. Hay, of Belleville, Illinois. Pauline is now a widow 
and resides in Middletown, Virginia. 

Timothy D. Hinckley, the only living son, acquired his education 
in the public schools and afterward learned engineering, which he followed 
during the greater part of his early life. In 1850 he crossed the plains from 
Missouri with a mule team, in company with a party that started on the 30th 
of April and included his brothers, Samuel and Jacob. They met with no 
thrilling incidents on the trip, but had plenty of bufYalo meat and the time 



\^o REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

passed pleasantly. While in the Snake ri\-er country they met with two In- 
dians who had a fine mule for which one of the company traded an old horse 
and some blankets. Soon after, however, they were overtaken by the real 
owner of the mule, and the man who had made the trade was afraid to go 
back for his horse and blankets. But Mr. Hinckley said he would accom- 
pany the man who owned the mule, and they were out all night on the expe- 
dition, but succeeded in regaining possession of the horse and blankets. Af- 
ter traveling for three months the party reached Hangtown, now Placerville, 
California, where Mr. Hinckley and his brothers separated and the former 
engaged in placer mining at Cold Springs, meeting with only moderate suc- 
cess. He afterward went to the middle fork of the American river, and 
engaged in mining near Georgetown, but was not successful. He proceeded 
thence to Volcano and on to the Trinity country, mining at Weaverville, 
Vv'here he met with much better success. 

In March, 1853, Mr. Hinckley came to Seattle and took up a ranch on 
Lake Washington, but soon abandoned the farm, as there was no market for 
the products. He then removed to Port Madison, where he ran an engine for 
three years, after which he went to Port Orchard, where he also secured a 
position as engineer. Subsequently he erected a number of buildings in Se- 
attle on the site of the Phoenix Hotel and land adjoining it, but lost them 
in the great fire a little later. Mr. Hinckley then sold that property and 
bought nine acres of land on Lake Union, Avhere he has built a fine home, a 
fitting place for the brave pioneer to spend the evening of a busy, eventful 
and useful life. He built the Hinckley block in iS8g, just after the great fire. 
It is one hundred and twenty by one hundred and eight feet and is five stories 
and a basement in height. Substantially built of brick, the first floor is used 
for storage and the upper floors for office purposes. It is a valuable and 
paying property. Mr. Hinckley still retains four acres at Lake L^nion, in 
connection with his residence. 

In 1867 was celebrated the niarriage of our subject and Mrs. ]\Iargaret 
E. Hinckley, the widow of his brother. She is a native of Ireland and by her 
former husband had five children : Kate, now the wife of Perry Poison, a 
prominent merchant of Seattle; Ferdinand, who died at the age of twenty- 
six years; Walter H., who has charge of Mr. Hinckley's business and is one 
of the representative men of the city; Ira and Lyman, at home. Mrs. Hinck- 
ley has been a resident of this section of the country since 1854, and has lived 
in both California and Washington in poineer times. 

In politics Mr. Hinckley has been a lifelong Democrat and for many 
years filled the office of justice of the peace, his even-handed justice "winning 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 171 

golden opinions from all sorts of people." For three terms he served in the 
territorial legislature of Washington and A-as active in promoting many use- 
ful measures. He was largely influential in securing the passage of a liquor 
license law obliging the payment of five hundred dollars annually as a license, 
and he was also the author of the bill creating and organizing the county of 
Kitsap. He worked diligently for all measures which he deemed of value 
to the territory, his course reflecting credit upon himself and proving of value 
to the district which he represented. He has seen the whole of the phe- 
nomenal growth of Seattle and takes great pride in the wonderful develop- 
ment of the city. 

JAMES W. CLISE. 

James W. Clise, the well known president of the Seattle chamber of 
commerce, and one of the most active and successful business men of the city, 
Jias through a long period been closely associated with its progress and 
material upbuilding. In the edition of the Trade Register, published on the 
13th of July, 1901, appears the following: "James W. Clise, who so ably 
fills the important office of president of the Seattle chamber of commerce, 
and has, as an active business man of the Queen city, invested hundreds of 
thousands of dollars in realty and buildings in this city and the Evergreen 
state, was born in Lancaster, Wisconsin, in 1855. He was educated in the 
Lancaster schools and when twenty years of age went to Stockton, California, 
where he was engaged in mercantile business until 1S79. He then located in 
Denver, Colorado, where he was in the lumber business until 1889. The year 
of the Seattle fire he came to Seattle and organized the Clise Investment Com- 
pany, of which he has since been president and general manager. Besides 
handling real estate and other investments, Mr. Clise has been agent for a 
number of prominent eastern capitalists who have purchased and erected a 
large number of business blocks in Seattle. Mr. Clise is also manager of the 
Globe Navigation Company recently organized which has purchased three 
large steamships and is building a large sailing fleet to take part in the com- 
merce of the Pacific, which farsighted business men realize will rapidly de- 
velope into enormous proportions and make Seattle the American Pacific 
Gateway for the far eastern trade with the continent. Mr. Clise promoted 
and built the Selah & Moxel irrigation canal in Yakima county and is in- 
terested in other stock business projects. Since 1890 he has been an active 
member of the Seattle chamber of commerce, serving as trustee, vice-pres- 
ident and has been elected president for two successive terms by the unani- 



172 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

mous vote of the board of trustees. Mr. Clise has always been an enthusi- 
astic worker in all matters affecting Seattle's interests and this citj is greatly 
indebted to him for the success of many projects, especially in securing the 
location of the Fort Lawton army post and the quartermaster's office at this 
point." 

The ancestors of our subject came form Holland in 1700 and settled in 
Virginia, the home of the family being known as Whitehall. Samuel Frank 
Clise, the father of our subject, removed from the Old Dominion to Wiscon- 
sin, where he was married to Miss Nancy McKenzie, who removed to that 
state from Glasgow, Kentucky. After their marriage they continued to reside 
in Lancaster, Wisconsin, and reared their family there. The father became 
a man of marked influence and prominence, holding various offices of honor 
and trust in his county. He was also a member of the Episcopal church 
and departed this life when comparatively a young man, at the age of forty- 
two. His wife still survives him and is now in her seventieth year. 

Mr. Clise was married in 1886 to Miss Anna Herr, a native of the same 
town in which his birth occurred. They have three children, Ruth, Charles 
Francis and James William, Jr. The parents are members of the Episcopal 
church and tlieir home is one of the beautiful residences that adorn Queen 
Ann hill. 

DEXTER HORTON. 

Dexter Horton is one of the honored and prominent pioneer business 
men of Seattle and his history is closely linked with the development of the 
pioneer west. People of the present period can scarcely realize the struggles 
and dangers which attended the early settlers, the heroism and self- 
sacrifice of lives passed upon the borders of civilization, the hardships 
endured, the difficulties overcome. These tales of the early days read almost 
like a romance to those who have known only the modern pro.sperity and 
conveniences. To the pioneer of the early days, far removed from the 
privileges and conveniences of city or town, the struggle for existence was 
a stern and hard one, and these men and women must have possessed indomit- 
able energies and sterling worth of character, as well as marked physical 
courage, when they thus voluntarily selected such a life and successfully 
fought its battles under such circumstances as prevailed in the northwest. 

Mr. Horton was born in what is now Schuyler county. New York, near 
the head of Seneca Lake on the 15th of November, 1825, and is of English 
lineage, the family, however, having been established in New England at 




^^^-^f.^/L ^&T.^ 



V 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. I73 

a very early epoch in the history of that section. The paternal grand- 
father of our subject was a resident of Massachusetts, while his son, Darius 
Horton, the father of our subject, was born in Massachusetts January 23, 
1790. He removed to the Empire state and was married there to Miss 
Hannah Olmstead, whose birth occurred February 4, 1790. In 1840 Darius 
Horton removed with his family to De Kalb county, Illinois, his new home 
being seventy miles west of Chicago. There he entered land from the gov- 
ernment and transformed the wild prairie into a richly improved farm on 
which he resided until his death, which occurred in 1847, when he had at- 
tained the age of fifty-four years. He was a very industrious and thor- 
oughly honest man, a kind and obliging neighbor, and a devoted husband 
and father. His widow continued to reside in Illinois until after the Civil 
war, when she came to Seattle, spending her remaining days in the home 
of her son, where she died in her seventy-sixth year. She was the mother 
of six children, of whom three are now living, namely : Mrs. Harriet Mar- 
tin, who is now in her eighty-first year; Julius, a resident of Georgetown; 
and Dexter. 

The last named had but limited school privileges. For about three 
months in a year he was a student in a little school house in a small district 
in New York, but during the remainder of the year his time was occupied 
with the work of the farm. When a youth of fifteen he accompanied his 
parents to Illinois and as he was then as large and strong as a man he did 
.1 man's work in the fields, attending school only through two months of 
the year, the remainder of the time being devoted to the arduous task of 
reclaiming the wild land for the purposes of civilization. His school books 
were a Cobb speller, and a DaboU's arithmetic, in which he advanced no 
further than the rule of three, but in the school of experience Mr. Horton 
has learned many valuable lessons and through reading and observation he 
has become a well informed man of practical ideas in busmess and broad 
in his views concerning the world and the great questions which afifect 
humanity. While residing in Illinois he took up a claim of eighty acres 
near his father's home and when he could obtain any leisure from assist- 
ing in the improvement of his father's farm, he devoted the time to the 
cultivation of his own land. When but sixteen years of age he became an 
expert with the axe, cutting and splitting in oak, ash and black walnut 
timber two hundred rails a day. With these he fenced all of the land. In- 
1847, when about nineteen years of age, Mr. Horton was happily married 
to Miss Hannah E. Shondy and unto them were born three children while 
they were residents of Illinois, but thev lost two in infancy. In 18^2 Mr. 



174 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

Horton, accompanied by his wife and little daughter Rebecca, started across 
the plains to the Pacific coast. Five families traveled together, taking with 
rhem sixty horses. There were in the company, eight men, six women, and 
six children, and a little one was born on the plains. They arrived at The 
Dalles in safety on the 6th of September, although they had encountered 
many hardships and trials when on the way. The Indians at one time attempt- 
ed to steal their horses, but failed. The year of their emigration was the one 
in which so many settlers suffered from the cholera and newly-made graves 
along the way marked the route of the wagon trains. Mr. Horton was 
stricken with the dread disease and when very ill was providentially saved 
by a heavy dose of morphine. A lady said to his wife, "If that was my 
husband I would give him a large dose of blue mass," which advice was 
rejected. Mr. Horton recovered, but the lady took the dread disease, and 
although she took the remedy which she had recommended, she died in less than 
twenty-four hours. Mr. Thomas Mercer also lost his wife at the Cascades, 
but the remainder of the party reached their destination in safety. Mr. 
Horton and his family spent the winter at Salem, Oregon. During that 
winter the territory of Washington was formed, the countiy lying to the 
north of the Columbia river bemg included within its borders. In the spring 
of 1853 our subject and several others walked to Olympia, thence proceed- 
ing to Seattle, where Mr. Horton secured work with Mr, Bell, chopping 
piles at two dollars and fifty cents per day. He also went to Port Town- 
send, where he cleared two lots for a man and was paid ten dollars per day 
for his work. On the first of July he returned to Salem, expecting to 
secure work at harvesting, but the great em"igration of that year had brought 
many unemployed men to thir portion of the country and he was only able 
to get one day's work. On the first of September of that year j\Ir. Mercer 
and his four daughters and Mr. Horton and his family started w'ith a 
team for Seattle. They came by the way of Portland, ferried their horses 
across the river and the family proceeded in a scow to Monticello and then 
in canoes to the upper landing on the Cowlitz. There Mr. Horton met 
his family and the ladies of the party with the horses, and putting the 
wagon together brought them to Olympia, where he left his wife and daugh- 
ter while he returned after their household effects. They arrived in Seattle 
on the 15th of September, 1853, at w^hich date he had not a dollar in his 
■pocket and worse than that was indebted to Mr. Mercer in the sum of fifty 
dollars for bringing him to this country with his team. They were met 
on the beach by parties from Port Gamble and ]\Ir. Horton and his wife 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. i75 

were offered one hundred and thirty dollars per month with board to go 
there and cook for a camp of men. He and his faithful pioneer wife worked 
in that way for nine months and then gave up the position for the camp 
had increased to sixty men and the work was too heavy for them. When 
they went to Port Gamble Mr. Horton had a pair of overhauls, a jumper, 
a hat and old boots, and his wife was as poorly clad, but while there they 
managed to pay off their indebtedness, to acquire a good wardrobe and to 
save eleven hundred and sixty dollars in gold. Our subject afterward worked 
in a mill owned by Mr. Yesler, while his wife did the cooking for four- 
teen men for five months. He began work at one o'clock at noon and was 
released at twelve o'clock at night. He had purchased some lots and after 
obtaining rest in sleep he would devote the remainder of his time before one 
o'clock to clearing his lots. All the money possible was saved and stored 
in an old trunk. About this time our subject became interested in mer- 
chandising. A. A. Denny had purchased a small stock of goods on com- 
mission and Mr. Horton became his partner in the new enterprise. They 
were also joined by David Phillips, who had some experience as a merchant 
and uniting their capital they purchased more goods and thus became iden- 
tified with early commission interests in this section of the country. During 
the first year they managed to pay all expenses and made three hundred 
dollars each. At the end of the year Mr. Denny was called to the upper 
house of the territorial legislature and Mr. Phillips to the lower house, so 
Mr. Horton purchased his partners' interests, giving them credit for their 
share of the business and he traded on this. Mr. Horton went on a sailing 
vessel to San Frascisco to purchase more goods, but a severe storm over- 
took the ship and it was two months before he was able to return with his 
merchandise, making the voyage on the same vessel on which he had gone 
to San Francisco. At twelve o'clock at night they passed Port Townsend. 
An hour before they had heard a cannon and knew there must be trouble 
with the Indians at Seattle. Captain Boyd decided to land in the darkness 
at Port Madison, and while approaching the shore he fired a pistol. His 
boat was then hailed and he was told that if he did not answer they would 
be blown out of the water. It proved to be the mill hands who made this 
.speech and who told them that they had been fighting at Seattle all day. 
This occasioned Mr. Horton great anxiety concerning the safety of his 
family. In the morning he asked an Indian to take him in his canoe to 
his home, but the Indian refused until Mr. Horton insisted strongly and 
they started. When they reached the other side of the bay the Indian stopped 



176 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

and looked for canoes, but seeing none they re-crossed and were hailed by 
the Decatur, on board of which j\lr. Horton found his wife safe. The 
Indians in great numbers had attacked the settlers in the town but the De- 
catur had shelled the Indian camp and succeeded in making them retire 
after a day's fighting. The ship on which Mr. Horton had returned from 
San Francisco did not unload his goods for thirty days more, having to 
stop at other points in the meantime. The news of the Indian outbreak 
brought a number of United States ships to the sound and thus a market 
was created so that within six weeks he had sold the greater part of his 
stock. He paid off his indebtedness, but later Mr. Phillips again formed a 
partnership with him, the new relation being maintained for five years, 
during which time they established a store at Olympia. Mr. Horton con- 
tinued merchandising for sixteen years and became a very popular and suc- 
cessful merchant, enjoying the good will and confidence of a large patron- 
age because of his reasonable prices, his honorable dealing and his unfail- 
ing courtesy toward his customers. He was in business all through the 
time of the Civil war and was greatly benefited by the advance in prices. 

At the close of the war he had the business sagacity to sell out and 
became the founder of the Dexter Horton Bank, the first bank established 
in the territory of Washington. He was made its president and for eigh- 
teen years continued in the banking business, profiting largely by the same 
honorable business methods which he employed in merchandising and which 
actuated all his transactions in commercial life. When he had been in acti\-e 
business for thirty-four years, he sold his bank to W. S. Ladd, of Portland, 
Oregon, but the old name was continued and the institution is still one of 
the most reliable and best patronized in this portion of the country. A. 
A. Denny, the friend and first partner of Mr. Horton was also in the bank- 
ing business with him for sixteen years and both sold out at the same time, 
reserving, however, some of their bank stock. All this occurred before the 
great fire of 1889, which swept over the city, almost wiping Seattle out of 
existence. At once, however, Mr. Horton began to rebuild and completed 
the Seattle block in three months, it being the first new block occupied after 
the fire. It has a frontage of one hundred and twenty feet on third street 
and one hundred and twenty-six feet on Cherry street and is four stories 
high on the street and five on the alley. A year later Mr. Horton erected 
the New York building, which is one hundred and twenty by one hundred 
and twelve feet and seven stories in height. It is a modern structure, 
equipped with all the latest accessories and improvements and is a credit 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. I77 

to tlie city. These buildings stand as monuments of ^Mr. Morton's industry 
and business enterprise. 

In 1873 he erected a nice residence at No. 1206 Third avenue. It 
stands on a slight eminence overlooking the bay and is one of the attractive 
homes of Seattle. There with his good wife and accomplished daughter 
he is spending the evening of life enjoying a well merited rest and the 
comforts which his years of former toil have brought to him. He is en- 
tirely without ostentation or display but his history is so well known in 
Seattle that all accord him the respect and honor which is his just due. 
After the family arrived in this city a little son, Alfred, was born, but his 
death occurred when he had reached the age of twenty months. A daugh- 
ter, Nettie, is now the wife of the Reverend W. G. Jones, of Everett. Mrs. 
Horton departed this life on the 30th of December, 1871. She was a brave 
pioneer helpmate, the wife of his youth, and her loss was very deeply felt by 
her devoted husband and by all who knew her. On the 30th of September, 
1873, Mr. Horton married Miss Caroline E. Parsons and this union was 
blessed with a daughter, Caroline E., now a young lady who is the light and 
life of the household. She has just graduated from the state university. 
Her mother was only spared to Mr. Horton for five years, passing away 
on the 4th' of March, 1878. Four years later he made a trip to the east 
and on the 14th of September, 1882, he married Miss Arabella C. Agard, 
a daughter of Eaton Agard, of Mr. Horton's native county. They had 
been schoolmates in their childhood days and the marriage has proved a 
very happy one. 

]\Ir. Horton has long been an active and acceptable member of the 
Protestant Methodist church, with which he became identified in 1849. He 
has served as an officer and has always been most active and liberal in ad- 
vancing the interests of religion and church building in his city. He has 
taken special interest and pleasure in Sunday-school work and for ten years 
he filled the ofiice of Sunday-school superintendent. In his early manhood 
he had no sympathy with the oppression of the slave holders, and therefore 
l:iecame a Freeholder. Later, when the Republican party was formed to 
prevent the further extension of slavery, he joined its ranks and has since 
remained one of its advocates, but has never desired or sought office. The 
secret of his success in business is found in his persistency of purpose and 
in the untainted honor and unswerving integrity which have ever marked 
his career. He stands to-day strong in his good name, commanding re- 
spect and enjoying the unqualified confidence of all with whom he has been 
associated through the long years of his residence on the Pacific coast. 



1/8 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

JAMES AIURRY COLMAN. 

The days of chivalry and knighthood in Europe cannot furnish more 
interesting or romantic tales than our own western history. Into the wild 
mountain fastnesses of the unexplored west went brave men, whose cour- 
age was often called forth in encounters with hostile savages. The land 
was rich in all natural resources, in gold and silver, in agricultural and 
commercial possibilities, and awaited the demands of man to yield up its 
treasures, but its mountain heights were hard to climb, its forests difficult 
to penetrate, and the magnificent trees, the dense bushes or the jagged rocks 
often sheltered the skulking foe, who resented the encroachment of 
pale faces upon their hunting grounds. The establishment of homes 
in this beautiful region therefore meant sacrifices, hardships and oftimes 
death, but there were some men brave enough to meet the red man in his 
own familiar haunts and untertake the task of reclaiming the district for 
purposes of civilization. The rich mineral stores of this vast region were 
thus added to the wealth of the nation; its magnificent forests contributed 
to the lumber industries and its fertile valleys added to the opportunities 
of the farmer and stockraiser, and to-day the northwest is one of the most 
productive sections of the entire country. That this is so is due to such 
men as James M. Colman, whose name is inseparably interwoven with the 
history of the region. No story of fiction contains more exciting chapters 
than may be found in his life record, but space forbids an extended ac- 
count of these. He who was to become such an improtant factor in the 
development of the northwest first came to Seattle in 1861. He is a native 
of Dumfermlihe, Fifeshire, Scotland, born on the 17th of June, 1832. His 
ancestors lived in the highlands many generations remote, but later 
. removed to the lowlands. His father, Bartholomew Colman, married Miss 
.Isabelle Murray. He and his wife were people of the highest integrity and 
respectability and were devout members of the Presbyterian church. The 
father departed this life in his forty-fifth year and the mother passed away 
in her sixty-second year. They were the parents of seven children, of whom 
three sons and a daughter still survive. 

James M. Colman, their second child, after acquiring his education, learned 
the machinist's trade and also mastered the principles of engineering in his 
native land. In 1854 he took passage on a sailing vessel. The Bogart, bound 
for the United States. .They had not been long at sea before they encountered a 
severe storm which so badly damaged the ship that she was obliged to put 
back to Liverpool. Nothing daunted by this misfortune, our subject sailed 




^ yii ^ iT&T^L . 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. I79 

from the latter port and after a voyage of six weeks reached the harbor of 
New York. He did not tarry long in the eastern metropolis but proceeded 
at once across the country to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he had a cousin 
living. Mr. Colman was then a young man of twenty-two years, lie en- 
joyed excellent health, had mastered a good trade, and had a cash capital 
of one hundred dollars. Thus he started out in the land of the free. He 
knew that he could earn a good living but determined to do something more. 
He accepted work in a machine shop and was soon found to be such a cap- 
able and intelligent workman that he was made foreman of the enterprise 
and held that position for seven years, but believing that there were better 
business oportunities for him on the Pacific coast, he severed his connec- 
tion \vitli the firm which he had so long represented and in 1861 sailed for 
San l""rancisco, proceeding to California by way of the Isthmus of Panama. 
Upon his arrival at his destination he entered into an engagement to take 
charge of a large sawmill at Port Madison and for three years successfully 
conducted that enterprise. He entered upon an agreement to work for one 
hundred and thirty dollars per month, but after noting his efficiency his em- 
ployers gave him two hundred and fifty dollars per month. He remodeled 
and rebuilt the mill and after a year his wages were increased to five hun- 
dred dollars per month. In 1864 he embarked in business on his own ac- 
count, purchasing a mill at Port Orchard, but the building was in rather 
dilapidated condition so he rebuilt it, securing new equipments and con- 
tinued its operation until 1869, when the plant was utterly destroyed by fire 
and he lost everything he had in a material way. Plis reputation as a ma- 
.chinist and millwright and as an honest man still remained to him, how- 
ever, and were the means of securing him a good position within a very 
.short time. The firm of Hanson, Ackerman & Company desired to rebuild 
the mill at Tacoma and increase its capacity and they paid Mr. Colman six 
hundred dollars a month to do the work. Well may he be proud of the fagt 
that he was given higher wages than any other man for such work on the 
.Pacific coast. When the mill was completed and in good running condi- 
tion he supposed his work was at an end, but the firm desired him to con- 
tinue its operation at the same wages which he was receiving and he re- 
mained with them for two years altogether. Anxious, however, to again 
engage in business on his own account, he accordingly leased the Yesler 
sawmill at Seattle, which was then standing idle. This he successfully con- 
tinued until it was also destroyed by fire, having caught from a conflagra- 
tion in adjoining buildings. Once more he met with heavy losses, large 
quantities of his lumber being destroyed by the flames. He had, however. 



l8o REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

been most prosperous in the operation of his mill and had accumulated about 
forty thousand dollars. 

Up to this time no railroad had reached Seattle, notwithstanding the 
citizens had made great efforts to secure the terminus of the Northern Pa- 
cific. The company, however decided in favor of Tacoma, and Seattle was 
thus left without railroad communication with the outside world. To offset 
this the citizens tried, but unavailingly, to secure eastern capital in order to 
build a road to Walla Walla, but Mr. Colman saw that whatever was ac- 
complished must be done by Seattle's men themselves, and with a most pro- 
gressive and enterprising spirit he proposed that they build a road to Renton, 
a distance of thirteen miles, where there was a coal mine being operated. 
Eventually he made the proposition to put in twenty thousand dollars if 
other citizens of Seattle would raise forty thousand dollars. This was 
agreed upon and Mr. Colman went to San Francisco, where he purchased 
with his own money twenty-seven thousand dollars worth of rails, and re- 
turning at once engaged in the construction of the road. There was much 
enthusiasm over the project at first and even the citizens worked to some 
extent on the road, but interest lagged after a time and he never received 
but twenty-five hundred dollars of the forty thousand dollars promised. 
However, his good name and credit enabled him to keep on with the work, 
but the miners at Renton decided to remove their works to New Castle and 
this obliged him to continue the road to the latter place, notwithstanding it 
was a much harder task. However, with an indomitable spirit the work 
Avas accomplished by this remarkable man of genius at a total cost of three 
hundred and fifty thousand dollars. He did his own engineering, superin- 
tending the work, purchased the material and ultimately received a dollar's 
worth for every dollar which he had expended. It was a magnificent achieve- 
ment, showing the greatest determination and splendid business and ex- 
ecutive ability, and for this accomplishment Mr. Colman deserves the great- 
est credit and praise. He conducted the road for a year and a half most 
successfully. It was contemplated that the road would be ultimately ex- 
tended to Walla Walla across the Cascades by way of Snoqualmie Pass 
and thus reaching the vast wheat fields of eastern Oregon. With this end 
in view Mr. Villard purchased the road and Mr. Colman not only obtained 
what he had invested, but also made some profit. 

All this time our subject had been operating his sawmill in Seattle and 
was anxious to be relieved of the arduous duties attending on that work, but the 
new company would not hear to his severing his connection. He argued that he 
was overworked and needed rest but thev insisted that he needed work and 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. l8i 

that they would relieve him of much of the task devolving upon him. They 
offered to give him railroad passes to go wherever he liked if he would only 
direct the operations of the enterprise. Finally he consented and remained 
with them for two and one-half years, receiving good remuneration for his 
work but he had no use for the railroad passes. All his labors brought 
about one very important result — the checkmating of the Northern Pacific 
and in making Seattle the greatest shipping and commercial city of the Sound 
which we find it to-day. On severing his connection with the business iil- 
terests before mentioned, Mr. Colman made a trip to Europe, accompanied 
by his wife and two sons, in order to visit many points of modern and his- 
toric interest in the old world and also to see again Scotland, his native 
land. After his return he engaged in coal mining, but soon abandoned that 
enterprise in order to give his attention to the improvement of his Seattle 
property. He was the builder of the Colman block which extended from 
Front street to the water and of which he was the sole owner, but all this 
was swept away in the great fire which cost him a loss of two hundred thou- 
sand dollars, on which he only had forty thousand dollars insurance. He also 
lost a brick block at the same time. Before the fire he had an income of 
three thousand dollars per month from his property and it was reduced to 
one hundred dollars. Again his indomitable energy, resolution and strong 
force of character were manifest. He did not repine but with resolute pur- 
pose started to work to obliterate the traces of the fire and built a fine three 
story and basement brick block, one hundred and eleven by two hundred 
and forty feet. He also erected a block of buildings where the Union depot 
now stands and built the court building, also a fine business structure on 
Main street. In 1884 he erected his splendid residence on Fourth street, 
located on a beautiful hill surrounded by tasteful grounds upon which has 
been lavished the art of the landscape gardener. There he is now residing 
with his family; a fit home in which to spend the evening of a life of great 
activity and usefulness. He is still one of the extensive property owners of 
the city, and though he has met with many reverses and discouragements, 
he has to-day valuable realty holdings which make him one of Seattle's most 
substantial residents. 

Mr. Colman was happily married in Waukesha, Wisconsin, to Miss 
Agnes Henderson, a native of Glasgow, Scotland. They had but two sons, 
Lawrence J., who is married and resides in the family residence above men- 
tioned, and George A., who is also at home. The sons are now managing 
the business. The father has taught them the trade which he mastered in 
early youth and in which he still retains great interest, having a shop of his 



i82 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

own. He built a number of steam yachts for his own pleasure and is now 
building a \'ery splendid one, eighty feet in length. He began his yacht 
building when his boys were approaching manhood in order to find some- 
thing to interest them and to induce them to stay with him. In this he has 
succeeded and father and sons have together continued their work in yacht 
building and in superintending his investments. He has the strong filial 
love and devotion of his "boys" to whom he has been not only a father, but 
companion and friend as well. 

Mr. Colman has been a life-long Republican, casting his first presidential 
vote for John C. Fremont, the first standard bearer of the party. He has 
never been an office seeker, but served for five years on the civil service com- 
mission. He belongs to the Plymouth Congregational church and for many 
years was one of its trustees, while to its support he has been a most liberal 
contributor. Nor has his aid been confined alone to this one organization, 
hut has benefited many church societies and benevolent institutions. His 
has been a practical life in which his business career has been marked by 
nothing visionary. Endowed by nature with excellent mechanical genius, 
he has improved his talents and by his unfaltering industiy he has advanced 
to a conspicuous position in the business world. Few men connected with 
the northwest have been more important factors in the development of this 
section of the country and the work which Mr. Colman accomplished in con- 
nection with railroad building is of itself sufficient to class him among those 
whose enterprise has been the foundation of the prosperity and the prog- 
ress of Seattle. 

CHARLES E. FOWLER. 

Charles Evan Fowler, president of the Puget Sound Bridge & Dredg- 
ing Company, has a wide reputation as a bridge builder in the United States. 
His knowledge of the scientific principles which underlie the work, together 
with a thorough understanding of the practical construction, has enabled 
him to advance to a position prominent in civil engineering circles, particu- 
larly in the line of his specialization, that of bridge building and engineering 
construction. 

Mr. Fowler is a native of Washington county, Ohio, having been born 
near the city of Marietta, on the loth of February, 1S67. The family is of 
English origin, and was established in America at an early day in the history 
of the colonies where representatives of the name took up their abode. Ben- 
jamin Fowler, the great-grandfather of our subject, lived in Maryland, and 
subsequently his descendants took up their abode in northeastern Ohio in the 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 183 

early part of the nineteenth century. Caleb Fowler, his grandfather, settled 
in Washington county in 1838, being one of the first settlers of that part 
of the Buckeye state, and there improved a farm in the midst of the forest, 
thus reclaiming the old hunting ground of the Indians for purposes of civili- 
zation. He and his ancestors were identified with the Society of Friends, 
or Quakers, and were people of the highest moral character. 

C. T. Fowler, his son, and the father of our subject, was born in Ohio 
in 1840, and in 1S72 removed to Marietta, that state, near which place he 
was engaged in the manufacture of lumber and in bridge building. He con- 
tinued in business in Ohio until his removal to the Pacific coast, since which 
time he has been connected with the lumber trade in Seattle. He married 
Miss Phebe Hobson, a native of Jefferson county, Ohio, who is also living, 
and the members of the household enjoy the high regard of all with whom 
they are associated in their western home. In the family were four children, 
three of whom are living: J. Ernest Fowler, who is deputy county auditor 
of Chillicothe, Ohio; Ella M., a successful teacher, of Seattle; and Charles 
Evan. 

The last named was reared in the state of his nativity, and after acquir- 
ing his preliminary education in the common schools completed his course 
in the Ohio State University, where he mastered civil engineering as taught 
in that institution. After leaving college he accepted a position with the 
Hocking Valley Railroad Company as bridge engineer, and during his con- 
nection with that company he completed several large bridges. He was 
afterward with the Indiana Bridge Company as engineer of construction. 
In 1890 he went to Los Angeles, California, where iie engaged in civil engi- 
neering and contracting along that line. While residing there he was mar- 
ried, and after his marriage he removed with his young bride to Youngs- 
town, Ohio, where he accepted the position of chief engineer with the 
Youngstawn Bridge Company, and for several years had charge of their 
work. While thus engaged he constructed a large number of bridges for 
highways and for railroad companies. He did work in every state and terri- 
tory in the Union, and superintended the construction of several ver}'- large 
bridges, including one at Youngstown and one over the Tennessee river at 
Knoxville, Tennessee, one third of a mile in length and one hundred and ten 
feet above the water. Ha resigned his position at Youngstown because the 
company went into a trust. 

Mr. Fowler then remo\'ed to New York city, where he opened an office 
as consulting engineer, and there he made numerous plans, including those 
for the erection of the Manhattan portion of tlie new East River bridge, be- 



i84 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

tweeii New York and Brooklyn. In 1900 he came to Seattle to take charge 
of the work and business of the Puget Sound Bridge & Dredging Company, 
and is now engaged in executing numerous large works of public improve- 
ment. He is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers; is a 
member of the Seattle Chamber of Commerce, and is one of its trustees and 
chairman of its committee on railroads, and a member of the committee on 
Lake Washington canal; is first vice-president of the Pacific Northwest So- 
ciety of Engineers; and an active member of the Seattle Park Commission. 

On the 4th of December, 1890, Mr. Fowler was united in marriage to 
Miss Lucille H. Doyle, a native of Chillicothe, Ohio, and a daughter of 
R. J. Doyle, then a resident of Los Angeles, California. She is also a niece 
of General Samuel H. Flurst, of Chillicothe, who served with distinction in 
the great Civil war. Mr. and Mrs. Fowler have two sons and two daugh- 
ters, Harold D., Robert C, Louise and Margaret E. They reside on Ma- 
drona Heights, one of Seattle's most beautiful suburbs. 

Air. Fowler has written extensively for the technical journals and maga- 
zines, among his contributions being "The Cofferdam Process for Piers," 
a treatise on ordinary foundations, published by John Wiley & Sons, of New 
York city. He is also the author of "Engineering Studies," a work in twelve 
parts, giving views of notable masonry engineering structures, and "Gen- 
eral Specifications for Steel Roofs and Buildings," both published by the 
Engineering' News of New York city. 

JACOB FURTH. 

Among those who have come from foreign lands to become prominent 
in business circles in Washington is Jacob Furth, the president of the Puget 
Sound National Bank, of Seattle, and a man whose varied business interests 
have contributed in large measure to the substantial upbuilding of the city 
with which he has allied his interests. His success in all his undertakings 
has been so marked that his methods are of interest to the commercial world. 
He has based his business principles and actions upon strict adherence to 
the rules which govern industry, economy and strict and unswerving in- 
tegrity. His enterprise and progressive spirit have made him a typical Amer- 
ican in every sense of the word and he well deserves mention in this volume. 
What he is to-day he has made himself, for he began in the world with noth- 
ing but his own energy and willing hands to aid him. By constant exertion, 
associated with good judgment, he has raised himself to the prominent posi- 
tion which he now holds, having the friendship of many and the respect of 



^ 








SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 185 

all. He has been identified with business interests on the Pacific coast since 
1858 and his enterprises are of mammoth size and of a very important char- 
acter. 

2vlr. Furth was born in Schwihau, Bohemia, Austria, on the 14th of 
November, 1840, a son of Lazar and Anna (Popper) Furth, both of whom 
were natives of that land and were of the Hebrew faith. The father was a 
merchant, successfully following that line of business throughout the years 
of his manhood. Both he and his wife spent their entire lives in that coun- 
try and he attained to the very advanced age of ninety-six years. They 
were the parents of ten sons and two daughters, and eight of the number 
came to the United States. The eldest son served as a captain in the Austrian 
army for fourteen years and afterward held an important government posi- 
tion in Vienna. 

In the schools of his native land Jacob Furth pursued his education 
and when eighteen years of age he bade adieu to home and friends in order 
to try his fortune in California — the Golden state, where he arrived in 
1858. He had only ten dollars in his pocket when he reached Nevada City, 
but scorning no employment which would yield him an honest living he ac- 
cepted a clerkship in a store and soon gained a good knowledge of Amer- 
ican business methods. His industry and economy enabled him soon to 
engage in business on his own account and he established a store at North 
San Juan, where he conducted a successful business until 1870, at which 
time he removed to Colusa, California. There he conducted a general mer- 
cantile store for twelve years, his business constantly growing in volume 
and yearly adding to his income. He prospered greatly but his health be- 
came impaired and hoping that he might be benefitted by a change of climate 
he came to Seattle in 1882. 

Here Mr. Furth established the Puget Sound National Bank and acted 
a? its cashier until 1893, "-^'hen he was elected its president. The bank has 
always been managed by him and its almost unparalleled success is attributa- 
ble almost entirely to his financial ability and keen discernment, he being 
recognized as one of the ablest fi.nanciers not only of the city but of the state. 
He is a gentleman of marked executive force, sagacity and unfaltering deter- 
mination and his aid and counsel have been of the greatest value in the suc- 
cessful conduct of many other enterprises of magnitude and importance. He 
was one of the organizers of the extensive street railway system of Seattle, 
controlling one hundred miles of street railway now in operation here and 
doing a paying business. He is president of the company which is now build- 
ing an electric line to Taccma and is also president of the A'ulcan Iron Works, 



186 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

now a very extensive enterprise which has grown from a small Ijeginning. 
He is likewise president of the California Land & Stock Company, owning 
thirteen thousand acres of choice farming land in Lincoln county. Washing- 
ton, where they are engaged in farming and stock-raising on a mammoth 
scale. j\lr. Furth is also quite extensively interested in real-estate in Se- 
attle and in the erection of huildings has contrihuted to the imjirovement of 
the city. He stands very high in the esteem and confidence of business peo- 
ple throughout the state. 

In 1865 Mr. Furth was united in marriage to ]\Iiss Lucy A. Dunton. a 
native of Indiana and a representative of an old American family. Her 
grandfather wns a veteran of the Mexican war and her father was a mer- 
chant of Indiana. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Furth has been blessed 
with three daughters- Jane E., now the wife of E. L. Terry, of Seattle; 
Anna F.. who married Frederick K. Sturve, of Seattle; and Sidonia. who 
is at home with her parents. 

Mr. Furth arrived in the United States just before the organization 
of the Republican party and from its formation has given to it an unwaver- 
ing suppurt. although he lias taken no part in its work as an office seeker. 
Everything pertaining to the welfare and improvement of Seattle, however, 
elicits his interest and co-operation, and for several terms he rendered effec- 
tive service to the city as a member of its council. He has also had the honor 
of serving as president of its chamber of commerce for two terms. He still 
holds to the religious faith of his ancestors but is broad minded and liberal 
and has been most generous in his contribution to various church and benev- 
olent enterprises. He was made a Master Mason in Colusa county, Cali- 
fornia, in 1870. and became so interested and proficient Ui the work that 
he was elected and served as master of his lodge. He is also a Royal Arch 
Mason and in his life exemplifies the teachings of the craft which is founded 
upon the principles of the brotherhood of mankind. In many respects his 
has been a remarkable career. Coming to this country a young man of 
eighteen years, without capital, without knowledge of the language or of the 
customs of the people, he has steadily worked his way upward until he has 
few peers in the business circles of the state. What he has accomplished 
in the world of commerce and industry cannot be told in words. It is cer- 
tainly not asserting too much to say of one who can direct and control busi- 
ness interests of such magnitude as those with which he is connected that 
his must be a master mind, that he must possess, aside from commercial fore- 
sight and sagacity, the happy faculty of reading and judging men. com- 
bined with unusual powers of organization and executive ability. .Xnd yet 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 187 

if one will seek in his career the causes of his success they will l)e found along 
the lines of well tried and old-time maxims. Honesty and fair-dealing, 
promptness, truthfulness and fidelity — all these are strictly enforced and ad- 
hered to, and thus he has advanced to a position prominent in the business and 
financial world. 

CHARLES K. JEXNER. 

Charles Kirkham Jenner is one of the distinguished representatives of 
the legal fraternity in Seattle, making a specialty of the department of land 
and mining law. Professional advancement in the law is proverbially slow. 
The first element of success is, perhaps, a persistency of purpose and effort 
as enduring as the force of gravity. But, as in any other calling, aptitude, 
character and individuality are the qualities which differentiate the usual from 
the unusual ; the vocation from the career of the lawyer. For twenty-five 
years he has been a representative of the legal fraternity of this city, and 
the qualities which insure success are his and have met their just reward. 
He is likewise extensively engaged in real-estate dealing and has prospered 
in this department of activity. 

Mr. Jenner was bom in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on the 15th of September, 
1846. and is descended from English ancestors who became early settlers of 
Connecticut. His grandfather, Edward H. Jenner, was born in Rutland, Ver- 
mont, and served in the war of 1812. He was a distinguished mathematician 
and successful teacher, and among his pup'ls who have attained marked promi- 
nence was Stephen A. Douglas "the lijtle giant of Illinois." In 1850 Mr. 
Tenner's father crossed the plains to California, where he engaged in mining. 
He also possessed remarkable inventive genius and when searching for gold 
on the Pacific coast in pioneer times he invented a pump to force water up to 
the mine, one hundred and ten feet. He made a model of his invention in 
pure gold, the first and only one of its kind ever sent to the patent office in 
Washington. As soon as he had completed one invention he started to work 
upon another, his mind being completely occitpied with such work. About 
T854 he invented the system of Browning gun barrels, and many other evi- 
dences of his genius in this direction were found upon the market, but he 
did not possess ability as a business manager and therefore never secured 
the financial returns which he deserved for his labors. For some years he 
was also a successful dentist in San Francisco. He spent the greater part 
of his life in that city but also resided for a time in Sonoma coimty, Cali- 
fornia. Prior to the Civil war he gave his political support to the Democ- 
racy, but at the time the south attempted to overthrow the L'nion he joined 



188 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

the Republican party. He was united in marriage to Ann Jane Wilby, of 
Rochester. New York, and with her family of four children she accompanied 
her husband to San Francisco in 1850. Three years later she departed this 
life at the age of thirty-three years, while the father of our subject was called 
to his final rest on the 14th of January, 1879, at the age of sixty-seven years. 
All their four children are yet living. Sylvester, who learned the printer's 
" trade in California, is now on the force of the San Francisco Examiner. 

Charles K. Jenner was only four years of age when he arrived in Cali- 
fornia with his parents. He pursued his studies in San Francisco and at 
the Sotoyome Institute in Sonoma county, read law with Colonel L. A. Nor- 
ton, in Healdsburg, and \vas admitted to the practice on February 21, 1871. 
Since that time he has been admitted to all the courts of the United States 
and has had a large number of cases tried in the supreme court of this coun- 
try. He practiced law in Flealdsburg, California, until 1876, at which time 
he came to Seattle, \vhere he has resided for more than a quarter of a century. 
For a short time he was employed in the office of Judge Orange Jacobs, and 
then altered into partnership with him — an association that was maintained 
for fourteen years, during which time they enjoyed a large and lucrative legal 
business. Subsequently j\Ir. Jenner was for some years in partnership with 
his son-in-law, Louis Henry Legg, and Solon T. Williams, but is now alone 
in business. His clientage is of a distinctively representative character and 
he has been associated with some of the most important litigation tried in the 
courts of this district and state, and also in the United States courts. During 
his residence in Seattle he has had much to do with real-estate interests and 
has been a partner in the platting of a number of additions to the city. The 
first ten acres was called the Brawley addition, after which he was associated 
in the platting of forty acres on Queen Ann Hill, which is now one of the 
finest residence portions of the city. The Comstock addition, containing 
forty acres, was named in honor of his wife's mother, a lady whom he held in 
very high esteem because of her amiable disposition and beautiful character. 
He has handled much city property and has done his full share in the up- 
building and improvement of this splendid metropolis of the northwest which, 
almost as if by magic, has grown to its present extensive proportions. One of 
the most notable works with which Mv. Jenner has been connected was the 
entering of the school section through which the New Castle coal veins now 
run. He had the honor of establishing the precedent of securing that kind of 
land from the government and subsequently he sold it to the New Castle 
Company, w'hich has operated its coal mines thereon for many years. In 
the legal points concerned in this matter he differed from the opinions of 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 189 

eminent jurists and displayed a profound and deep knowledge of the land 
laws of the United States, carrying his point and establishing an important 
precedent. He is counsel for the Forty-five Consolidated Mining Company, 
which owns a valuable mine that has already produced twenty thousand dol- 
lars. He was also at one time the manager of the Denny iron mine, but has 
sold his interest. That was the first mineral entry made on Puget Sound 
and proved to be a very valuable mine, containing the finest Bessemer steel 
ore in the United States. This mine will ultimately prove of great value. 

On the 9th of June, 1S70, Mr. Jenner was joined in wedlock to Cornelia 
E. Comstock, a native of Tioga county, New York, born near the city of 
Oswego. They became the parents of five sons and a daughter, namely: 
Helen, the wife of Louis Henry Legg; Earl Robinson, who has charge of 
the court work for the Boothe Whittlesey Abstracting Company; Ernest 
Comstock, who is the twin brother of Earl, and is a sketch artist for the Post 
Intelligencer; Theodore, who is a clerk with the Osborn, Tremper Abstract 
Company; Herbert and L. G., who are both in Seattle. Ernest served in 
the war with Spain and vv'as for two years in the art room of the San Fran- 
cisco Chronicle. November 4, 1891, the mother of this family, a most estima- 
ble lady of broad charity and humanitarian principles, was called to her final 
rest. She served as president of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, 
was one of the organizers of the Woman's Relief Corps and was chairman 
of the Advisory committee to investigate needy cases and furnish them with 
supplies. In her home she was a devoted wife and mother and was a con- 
sistent Christian woman whose loss was deeply felt. November 14, 1892, 
Mr. Jenner was again married, his second union being with Clara J. Hough, 
a native of Wayne county, Ohio, and they have a son and a daughter, Cor- 
nelia E. and Edward Hough. In politics Mr. Jenner was long an active 
Republican, but differing from his party on the money question he is now 
independent, for he believes that both gold and silver should be used as the 
money standard of the country. While he is one of the distinguished mem- 
bers of the bar of this city he is entirely free from ostentation or self-laudation 
and this fact has made him one of the most popular citizens of Seattle, with 
whose history he has been long and prominently identified. 

EDGAR BRYAN. 

Edgar Bryan, who is secretary and ex-president of the Pioneer Associ- 
ation of the state of ^Vashington and makes his home in Seattle, was born in 
Lawrence county, Illinois, on the 24th of February. 1841. His father, Eli 



I90 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

Bryan, was a native of North Carolina and after arri\ing at years of maturity 
married Nancy Laws, a native of Illinois. The former died when our subject 
was only seven years of age and the mother married again and reached the 
advanced age of seventy-three years. By her first marriage she had six 
children, and her second marriage was to a gentleman who had nine chil- 
dren. Our subject and his eldest sister, Mrs. Esther Perkins, now of British 
Columbia, are the only survivors of the first family. 

After the mother's second marriage it seemed that the family was too 
large for one household, and when he was only eleven years of age he, with 
a younger brother and two sisters, left home and went with their grandfather, 
John Laws, across the plains, with ox teams, to Oregon, his grandfather be- 
ing captain of a company which made the long and wearisome journey across 
the wide deserts of sand and through the mountain passes. The year was 
1852 and they were seven months and one week upon the way. Amos 
Pettys was the only man out of twenty-one who died during the entire trip, 
but difficulties and hardships were endured, such as cannot be imagined by 
the traveler of today who speeds across the country in a palace car. The 
stock was stampeded by Indians on several occasions, but the emigrants al- 
ways succeeded in recovering their horses and cattle. While near Snake 
river Mr. Laws went on ahead of the company to look for a good place to 
encamp for the noon hour and was attacked by an Indian on horseback but 
managed to escape. The company settled in what was then Oregon, near 
Vancouver, remaining there through the first and very hard winter, and in 
the spring w^ent to the beautiful Turlitin plains in Oregon. There ]Mr. Laws 
and his family remained during the harvesting season, after which they pro- 
ceeded to Lynn City, opposite Oregon City. Jn the fall of that year he removed 
with his family to Olympia, Washington Territory, where he conducted a 
hotel during the winter of 1853-54. In the succeeding spring he secured a 
government land claim of three hundred and twenty acres on the Miami 
Prairie, which property he improved, transforming it into a rich farm and 
made his home thereon for many years. Energetic, industrious and hon- 
orable, his was a successful business career. He held membershi]) in the 
Baptist church and died in Chehalis county at the age of seventy-four years. 
His wife, who bore the maiden name of Mary Goen, attained the veiy ad- 
vanced age of ninety-three years. She was a typical pioneer woman, courage- 
ously braving the trials and dangers of frontier life and on the journey to 
the Pacific coast she drove her own team the greater part of the distance 
across the plains, and for fifteen years after arrival did her own housework 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY, 191 

on the farm, and was never known to get angry enough to quarrel with any 
person. 

Edgar Bryan was educated in the common schools of Olympia and at 
the Washington State University, the first term of which he attended, and 
he also attended the Puget Sbund Wesleyan Institute at Olympia in early 
days. He first worked at the carpenter's trade and afterward engaged in 
teaching school for several terms. Subsequently he was employed as a clerk 
and filled the position of bookkeqjer for the Washington Mill Company at 
Seabeck. The plant was a large one and an extensive business was carried on. 

In 1865 Mr. Bryan was united in marriage, at Seattle, to Edna Ann 
Whipple, a descendant of the old Puritan family of Whipples. After their 
marriage the young couple took up their abode in Seattle, which was then 
a small town, and he followed contracting and building for ten years. He 
then suffered from paralysis and was obliged to retire from his business 
operations. Removing to Coupeville, Island county, he took charge of a 
large store, liut sul)sequently returned to Seattle and received the appoint- 
ment of deputy assessor of the county. He was also clerk of the Seattle 
school district for many years, and after serving as deputy assessor he was 
elected assessor of King county, serving a term of two years, during which 
time he manifested such ability that he was again elected and continued in 
the office through the second term, but declined to serve a third. Since his 
retirement he has been engaged in dealing in real estate, besides conducting 
other interests, and is now controlling the white bronze monument business. 
He is a gentleman of keen sagacity and marked enterprise and carries forward 
to successful completion whatever he undertakes. The home of Mr. and Mrs. 
Bryan has been brightened by the appearance of seven children : Albert 
W., who is now in Manila; Alberta, at home; Jessie, who became the wife 
of E. H. Crowe; Hugh L., who is a clerk in the postoffice at Seattle; Minnie, 
the wife of Samuel I. Robeson, of Seattle; Arthur A., at present a resident of 
Dawson, Northwest Territory ; and C. Ernest, who is living at home. In 
1893 Mr. Bryan was called upon to mourn the loss of his wife, who de- 
parted this life on the 15th of December of that year. She was a devoted 
wife and mother and a valued member of the Methodist Protestant church, 
so that her loss was deeply felt, not only in the family circle but also in the 
church organization and by her many friends. Mr. Bryan's daughter. Al- 
berta, is now acting as his housekeeper, their pleasant home being located at 
No. 330 Fourth avenue north. In his political affiliations Mr. Bryan has 
been an active Republican since casting his first presidential vote. He was 
assistant United States marshal in 187c and was postmaster while in Coupe- 



192 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

ville in 1875-76. For several years lie has been a member of the Ancient 
Order of United Workmen and is a gentleman of high character, of strong 
purpose and sterling worth. Few men of his years have spent so long a 
time upon the Pacific coast as has Mr. Bryan. The history of the won- 
derful development of this section of the country is familiar to him. A half 
century has passed since he came with his grandparents to the northwest, 
which was then largely the domain of the red race. The forests stood in their 
primeval strength, the ri\ers were unbridged and the land uncultivated. He 
has taken a just and commendable pride in everything pertaining to the ad- 
vancement and progress of this section of the country and has borne his 
part in the work of improvement in the city in which he has so long made 
his home. Well does he deserve the honor which was conferred upon him 
by his election to the position of secretary of the Pioneer Association of the 
state for five consecutive terms after having served as its president. Mr. 
Brj-an could give many interesting reminiscences of the Indian war of 1855-56 
in Oregon, \\'ashington and Idaho, but was not then old enough to join 
the Volunteers. He was made useful in looking after the interests of the 
farm, which was about five miles from the fort where all families of the neigh- 
borhood had assembled for mutual protection, and members were accus- 
tomed to visit the farms occasionally to look after stock and other matters. 
On one of those trips he was detained over night and of course supposed to 
be murdered, but turned up all right and found a posse ready to go and search 
for him. 

JOHN P. FAY. 

The subject of this sketch, Hon. John P. Fay, has long been promi- 
nent in the legal profession of the state and as a citizen is honored and re- 
spected by all. In his public utterances, always governed by his convic- 
tions, he has been a leader in thought and action in the public life of the 
state. His name is a familiar one in political and professional circles 
throughout the northwest. 

The "Fay Family" is one of the oldest in Massachusetts. The pro- 
genitor, John Fay, emigrated to the Massachusetts colony in 1660 from 
England. His eldest son, John Fay, with two younger brothers, in the early 
years of 1700 acquired from the Indians a large tract of land, the greater 
portion of which is now divided into many beautiful homes that make the 
towns of Westborough and Southborough in the east central part of Massa- 
chusetts. Here a home was establislied which has since been known as the 
"Old Homestead" of the Fav familv. 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. i93 

Deep religious traits characterized the family and the church records 
throughout New England give evidence of the large number of descendants, 
bearing the family name, who as ministers did splendid service in Chris- 
tian work. Almost with the first settlement came the Congregational- church 
of Westborough. Of this John Fay was the first deacon and for more 
than one hundred and twenty-five years afterwards some member of the 
Fay family was a deacon in this church. Though the family is rapidly 
diminishing in numbers, there are many local landmarks that bear the name 
wjiich, with the Fay Public Librarjr at Southborough, will keep the family 
name for many years to come in honored remembrance. One place in par- 
ticular, carved out of the Fay homestead, will always be shown with pride 
by the townsfolks. It is the birthplace of Eli Whitney, the famous inventor 
of the cotton gin. His mother was the daughter of Benjamin Fay, son 
of John Fay. Although not buried in Westborough, a substantial monu- 
ment on the old burial ground in the center of Westborough evidences the 
respect of the community for the talents of Eli Whitney. 

Joseph Brigham Fay, the father of our subject, was born in West- 
borough July 3, 1816. He was a descendant on his grandmother's side from 
the Brigham family, an old and honored family in New England, the most 
distinguished member of which was a cousin, the late Chief Justice Brigham, 
of the supreme court of Massachusetts. In middle life he was married 
to Sarah Houghton Purinton, a woman of singular beauty, grace and no- 
bility of character. The early years of his life were spent in New York 
city, where he was clerk in a bank and later served in the then well known 
house of Temple Fay & Company, bankers and brokers. Subsequently, tired 
from the bustling activities of metropolitan life, he returned to the old 
homestead of the Fay family, which he bought and where he died at the 
age of sixty-seven, a few years after the death of his beloved wife, who was 
called to her final rest in 1877, at the age of fifty-two years. They were 
life-long attendants of the Congregational church and were honored and 
respected by all who had the pleasure of their acquaintance. To this wor- 
thy couple two children were born, Charles Brigham Fay, the elder, and 
John Purinton Fay, the subject of this review. 

The last named was born in Westboro, Massachusetts, August, i, 
1861. He was educated at the Westboro high school and graduated in 
1 88 1 from Phillips Exeter Academy, of New Hampshire, one of the old- 
est institutions of learning in the east. After two years' special study in 
the academic course of Harvard University and at the Harvard Law School 
Mr. Fay removed to Eureka, Nevada, where he commenced the practice 



194 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

of law. W'hile there he served as superintendent and principal of the Eureka 
high school. In the winter of 1889 he was clerk of the Nevada senate. The 
following spring Mr. Fay came to Seattle and immediately entered into a 
law partnership with Mr. John P. Gale; but two years later this partner- 
ship was ended by the death of Mr. Gale, after which the firm of Fay, Gest 
& Henderson was organized. This relationship continued until 1895. but 
two years of this time were spent by Mr. Fay in Oregon, as attorney for 
the eastern bondholders in their litigation with the Oregon Pacific and 
Willamette \'alley Railroad Companies, and subsequently he was made at- 
torney for the receiver of the roads. The litigation with which he has been 
connected has embraced many of the most important cases, involving large 
sums of money and property, tried in the courts of this state and Oregon. 
Among them might be mentioned the Farmers' Loan & Trust Company of 
New York vs. Oregon Pacific Railroad ; the same vs. the Willamette Valley 
Railroad; trustees vs. Oregon Development Company; Deschutes Military 
Wagon Road Land Grant, involving three hundred thousand acres in east- 
ern and central Oregon ; the famous Valentine Scrip cases, involving the 
business water front of Seattle, Tacoma and Port Townsend. besides fill- 
ing the position of arbitrator in several important mining controversies. In 
all these cases Mr. Fay won from his opponents of marked ability the com- 
pliment of sound judgment, keen analysis and a broad knowledge of legal 
principles. 

In 1889 Mr. Fay was married to Miss Alice Ober, of Beverly, Massa- 
chusetts, a young lady of rare intellectual endowments, the sister of the dis- 
tinguished author, Fred A. Ober, and herself the valedictorian of her class, 
though its youngest member, at the commencement exercises in 1881 of 
Wheaton Seminary, the oldest college for the education of young ladies in 
Massachusetts. L'nto this union have been born five children, three sons 
and two daughters, namely : Dorothy \Mieaton, Alice Ober, Temple 
Sedgwick, John Bradford and Winthrop Herrick. 

L'ntil 1896 Mr. Fay gave his political support to the Republican party, 
but in that year, his views on the money question not being in harmony with 
the party, he joined the Fusion forces and became an earnest and aggressive 
leader in the ranks of that political organization, delivering many schol- 
arly and effective speeches in its behalf during the following campaign. In 
company with Judge Richard Winsor, he was chosen by the Fusion state 
central committee to hold a joint debate on the money question. The Re- 
publicans selected as his opponent Hon. Andrew h'. Burleigh, a prominent 
attorney and at that time receiver of the Northern Pacific railroad, and 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 195 

Hon. Frank W. Cushman, now a member of congress from this state. 
The debate was held at Yakima, Washington, October i, 1896. and more 
than ten thousand people were present. In his speech Mr. Fay evinced a 
thorough knowledge, wide study and complete mastery of his subject. His 
peroration will always take high rank in choice literature for elegance of 
expression and diction. Mr. Fay left the platform a victor, with a reputa- 
tion as a speaker that brought him immediate and earnest solicitation to 
the platform from many different states. The success of the Fusion forces 
in Washington that year was largely due to his able efforts and in the 
Fusion legislature that followed his name was frequently mentioned in con- 
nection with the United States senatorship, although at no time did he place 
himself on record as a candidate. Mr. Fay's political work had been freely 
given in deference to a sense of duty to deep convictions upon the great 
financial questions of the hour. He sought no reward, but later he had the 
honor of accepting an appointment by the governor to the hoard of regents 
of the University of the state of Washington. There his experience and 
knowledge of educational work and methods of teaching were quickly recog- 
nized and he was soon made president of the board of regents. This posi- 
tion he held until a difference of views arose in the board as to the propriety 
of eliminating the subjects of "Ethics" and "Moral Philosophy" from the 
university curriculum of studies. Mr. Fay insisted upon the retention of 
these subjects in the course of study and a fierce controversy arose. Un- 
willing to yield to executive pressure, after seeing the subjects firmly rein- 
stated in the college course of studies, Mr. Fay in deference to his own 
deep convictions retired from the board. His honesty and integrity in po- 
litical matters has never been the subject of question, even among his po- 
litical enemies, while as a polished and educated gentleman his social posi- 
tion is and always has been of the highest standard. Mr. Fay is just in his 
prime and there is no position of honor that he might attain that would 
cause surprise to any one. 

HIRAM BURNETT. 

More than a half century has passed since this gentleman arrived on the 
Pacific coast and he is justly numbered among the honored pioneers and 
leading citizen of this portion of the country. He has been prominenth] 
identified with business interests in many ways. His is the honorable rec- 
ord of a conscientious man who by his upright life has won the confidence 
of all with whom he has come in contact. He has reached the age of eighty- 



196 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

five years, and although the snows of many winters have whitened his hair he 
has the vigor of a much younger man, and in spirit seems yet in his prime. 
Old age is not necessarily a synonym of weakness or inactivity, nor need 
it suggest, as a matter of course, want of occupation or helplessness. There is 
an old age that is a benediction to all that comes in contact with it, that 
gives out of its rich stores of leaniing and experience and grows stronger 
intellectually and spiritually as the years pass. Such is the life of Mr. Bur- 
nett, an encouragement to his associates and an example well worthy of emu- 
lation by the young. 

Hiram Burnett is a native of Massachusetts, his birth having occurred 
in Southboro, Worcester county, on the 5th of July, 181 7. He is descended 
from English and French ancestors who were early settlers of New England 
and representati\'es of the family were active pai'ticipants in the events which 
form the early history of this country. Charles R. Burnett, his grandfather, 
joined the colonial army that sought to throw off the British yoke of op- 
pression and at length won the victory which ended the English rule in the 
American colonies. He was a prosperous farmer, a worthy member of the 
Congregational church, and lived and died at Southboro, Massachusetts. 
Brazella Pond, the maternal grandfather of our subject, was also a native of 
IMasschusetts and he, too, was a member of the patriotic army of the Revolu- 
tionry war. His religious faith was also that of the Congregational church 
and he was a citizen of the highest respectability. 

Charles Burnett, the father of our subject, was born in Southboro, Mas- 
sachusetts, on the 1 2th of March, 1788, and married Keziah Pond, a native 
of Franklin, that state. They were industrious and respected farming peo- 
ple, holding to the faith of the Congregational church, and in their family 
were five children, of whom only two are now^ living: Hiram and a sister, 
w-ho is eighty-six years of age and resides with her brother. The father died 
in the sixty-eighth year of his age, while his wife was taken from him by death 
in her forty-sixth year. 

Hiram Burnett obtained his education in the public schools of Massachu- 
setts and in his youth worked at the carpenter's trade. Ultimately he became 
the owner of a planing mill and was engaged in the manufacture of sash, 
doors and blinds. Attracted by the opportunities of the golden west he 
resolved to seek his fortune on the Pacific coast and in 1852 sailed from 
New York for San Francisco by way of the Isthmus of Panama, reaching 
his destination in February. He remained in San Francisco for four years, 
at the expiration of which time he returned to the east for his family, having 
been married on the loth of April. 1845. to Elizabeth M. Gibbs, of Farming- 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. i97 

ham, Middlesex county, Massachusetts. She was born March 3, 1824, and 
while residing in the east they became the parents of two children : Charles 
H. and Nellie M. With his wife and children Mr. Burnett again made his 
way to San Francisco and after a year's residence there came to Washington 
Territory in 1859, settling at Port Gamble, where he remained for four years, 
engaged in the operation of a planing mill. In this enterprise he met with 
success and in 1863 came to Seattle, erecting the first house on Fourth street, 
between Fourth and Fifth avenues and Marion and Columbia. He engaged 
in the operation of a planing mill in West Seattle, in Port ]\Iadison, and in 
Port Ludlow. His affairs were conducted with strict regard to commercial 
ethics and as a result of his enterprise, combined with integrity in all trade 
transactions, he not only won prosperity, but also secured the confidence and 
good will of all with whom he had business relations. His reputation in 
industrial circles is above question and the policy which he has ever followed 
serves as an example well worthy of emulation. 

Of the two children who accompanied Mr. and Mrs. Buniett to the west, 
Charles H. is now superintendent of the Southprairie Coal ]\Iine at Burnett, 
Pierce county, Washington, a town which was named in honor of his family. 
The daughter became the wife of Stephen P. Andrews, by whom she had 
three children. 

In his political affiliations in early manhood Mr. Burnett was a Whig 
and voted for General Scott for president. When the Republican party was 
formed he endorsed its principles and has since remained in its ranks. After 
returning from San Francisco the first time he went to Kansas and did what 
he could to make that a free state, being there throughout all the exciting 
period when the border rufiiians were determined to introduce slaver}\ While 
in Kitsap county he was elected and served as judge of the probate court, 
and in 1866 he was elected county commissioner of King county, evincing 
in the conduct of that ofiice the same good judgment and conscientiousness 
that have always characterized the conduct of his private business. In 1890 
he removed to Edgewater, where he had built for himself a commodious 
home, and there he is spending the evening of his life in contentment and 
peace. In his youth he was a Congregationalist, but in 1865, at Seattle, he 
aided in the establishment and building of the Episcopal church. He was 
also prominent in building- the first Trinity church. When in Port Ludlow, 
as there was no minister there, he read the church services for four years in 
a most acceptable manner. He aided in organizing the first Episcopal Sun- 
day-school in Seattle and was its superintendent for many years, and his 
efforts in behalf of Christianity have been highly appreciated. He and his 



193 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

gootl wife have passed the fifty-se\'enth anniversary of their wedding day 
and are greatly beloved by a wide circle of friends. Mr. Burnett has attained 
his eighty-fifth year, his wife being now in her seventy-eighth year, and this 
venerable couple received in high measure the honor and respect from all 
with whom they ha\e been brought in contact. 

AUGUST MEHLHORX. 

August Mehlliorn, one of Seattle's prominent old residents, was born 
in Saxony, Germany, on the 20th of March, 1842, his paraits being Fred- 
erick and Maria (Cupp) I\Iehlhorn, both of whom were natives of Saxony. 
The father, who was engaged in tile butchering business, dietl at the advanced 
age of eighty-four years, while his wife passed away at the age of eighty- 
eight 3'ears. They were industrious and upright people and highly respected 
in their native land. They were members of the Lutheran church, and be- 
came the parents of three children, all of whom are living. 

August Mehlhom w-as educated in his native country and learned the 
brick mason's trade and also that of a weaver. In 1867 he crossed the At- 
lantic to the new world, believing there were l)etter business opportunities 
to be found in America, and upon arrival made his way to Chicago wuth 
the firm purpose of achieving success. Although he was unfamiliar with the 
language of the country, and was a poor young man, he possessed a vigorous 
constitution, a bright and active mind and honesty and industry were num- 
bered among his chief characteristics. His first work was on a farm in 
Indiana, for which he was paid sixteen dollars per month, and this he con- 
tinued for eleven months. He then returned to Chicago and worked at 
brick laying at three dollars per day, but did not have a steady business. 
However, he was pleased with his prospects, for in his own country he could 
not have earned over fifty cents per day. After this he worked for about a 
year in an oil and lead works, and in 1870 he came to Washington territory, 
going first to Steilacoom, where there was a colony being established, but 
which afterward was abandoned, and Mr. Mehlhom went to Gray's Harbor 
to look for land for the colony. Init they could not find as large a district as 
they wanted in that locality. In connection with Mr. Rupp he there cut 
one hundred and fifty cords of wood for a brewei'y, for which they were paid 
one dollar and fifty cents per cord. Mr. Mehlhorn saved his money and took 
up his abode on Hangman's Prairie. The land had not been surveyed and 
it was seven miles to any habitation from his home. Henry Rupp and Charles 
Greger were his nearest neighbors, but they left the locality and Mr. Mehl- 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. i99 

horn remained for only nine montlis, for the country was then very wild and 
rough and gave little promise of a speedy development. In 1873 he came to 
Seattle, and for twaity-two months worked for Mr. John J. McGilvra upon 
his farm on Lake Washington. He drove piles with the horse-power pile 
driver and in that way built the first wharf on the lake. He next came to 
Seattle, where he secured a position as driver on a beer wagon for the firm 
of Smiech & Brown, and during the year thus engaged he saved his money. 
Mr. Brown sold his interest to Mr. Smiech, whose wife afterward died, and 
desiring to dispose of the business Mr. Mehlhom purchased it and thus be- 
came the owner of the Northern Pacific Brewery, which was located on a 
lot one hundred and twenty feet square and is the ground on which the Mc- 
Dougal & Southwick store now stands. He engaged in the manufacture of 
steamed beer for eight years, meeting with excellent success. He also became 
the owner of a lot of thirty-five feet front on which the Union Block now 
stands, and at one time he could not sell this at any price. He built three 
buildings on his lots, and these were occupied by a wholesale liquor house, a 
barber shop and a restaurant. Howe\-er, the buildings were destroyed by 
fire and he suffered a very heavy loss, but the era of prosperity later dawned 
upon him and he became connected with the saloon business as a partner of 
George Brobst, a relation that was maintained until 1886. As the city grew 
his property also increased in value and he sold a portion of his land, eighty 
feet front, for forty-eight thousand dollars. In J876 he had been united in 
marriage to Julia Wilhelmina Wild, who was born near Boston, Massacliu- 
setts, the daughter of Emil Wild, of German ancestry and a veteran of the 
Civil war. In 1888 Mr. Mehlhom and his family returned to the old coun- 
try, remained in Germany for six months, visiting" relatives and frieids, and 
then returned to Seattle. The children who accompanied them were August 
F. and Ann Gertrude, their daughter Louisa having died when only eleven 
months old. Mr. Mehlhorn has been a member of the Independait Order 
of Odd Fellows for the past quarter of a century and has filled all of the 
chairs in both branches, not only once, but twice. In politics he is a Repub- 
lican. He still holds considerable property, including part of the Union 
Bloclc ; on Second street he has a building with a sixty-feet front, and also 
owns a German hotel on Sixth and James streets. In 1889 he built his pleas- 
ant and attractive residence at No. 813 Ninth avenue, where he now resides, 
retired from active business, giving his attention to the improvement of his 
grounds. The home is an attractive one and a fitting place for this worthy 
old couple to spend the evening of their days enjoying the fruits of their 
industrious lives. July 17, 1901, Mr. and Mrs. INIehlhorn celebrated their 



200 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

silver wedding', on which occasion a large party of friends were present, 
wishing them many happy returns of the day. The Reverend Mr. Damon, 
who had performed the marriage ceremony for them twenty-five years before, 
was present and the occasion was a most delightful one, long to be remem- 
bered by all who participated. 

THEODORE NEWELL HALLER. 

Among Seattle's most prominent and influential business men is num- 
bered Theodore N. Haller, who is a pioneer of this state, being but six months 
old when he came to the territory with his parents. He was born on the 4th 
of January, 1864, in Pennsylvania, where his ancestors have made their home 
for several generations. The family came originally from Germany. George 
Haller, our subject's grandfather, was a native of York, Pennsylvania, as 
was also his father, the distinguished soldier, citizen and pioneer. Colonel 
Granville Owen Haller, who was born at that place, January 31, 181 9. The 
Colonel was only two years old when his father died leaving the mother with 
four small children, but notwithstanding her limited means she succeeded in 
giving them all a good education. He attended the schools of his native 
town. Early in life he chose a military career, and being examined by a 
board of military officers at Washington, D. C, in 1839, he was commis- 
sioned second lieutenant in the Fourth Regiment, United States Infantry, 
although only twenty years of age. In 1841-2 he participated in the Florida 
war, taking part in the battle of Big Cypress Swamp and the engagement 
which resulted in the capture of Halleck Tushnugger's band and ended the 
struggle. 'He was adjutant of the Fourth Infantry from the ist of Janu- 
ary, 1843, until he resigned September 10, 1845. He was brigade major 
of the Third Brigade, United States Regulars, under General Taylor in 
Texas in 1845, and during the war with Mexico had command of his com- 
pany from the siege of Vera Cruz until the capture of the city of Mexico, 
participating in all the battles in the valley of Mexico, the attack upon the 
fortification of San Antonio and the storming of El Molino del Rey. For 
his valiant service on the last named occasion he was breveted major. Fle 
took part in the capture of the city of Mexico and the skirmishing within its 
walls on the following day, and was reported for his distinguished gallantry. 
On the 1st of January, 1848, he was promoted to captain in the Fourth In- 
fantry, after which he was for some time engaged in recruiting duty. 

In 1852 Majors Sanders and Haller, with their respective commands, were 
ordered to the department of the Pacific. They sailed on the L^nited States 




^^.c 



v^^-CHjo (3-'^^^C^,^j2^(L^^ 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 201 

store-ship Fredonia, by way of Cape Horn, and arrived at San Francisco in 
June, 1853, having spent seven months on the voyage. Major Haller and 
his company proceeded at once to Fort Vancouver, Washington Territory, 
and soon after to Fort Dallas, Oregon, after which he was in active service, 
punishing the Indians for atrocities and murders inflicted by them on the 
settlers. He was all through the Indian war of the northwest and rendered 
valuable service to the government and to the brave pioneers who were 
peopling this district and laying the foundation for the present development 
and progress. In the fall of 1856 Major Haller received orders to establish 
a fort near Port Townsend, and this work, notwithstanding many formidable 
difficulties, was satisfactorily accomplished, since which time the fort has 
been garrisoned. While there the Major and his men were a most efficient 
force in protecting the settlers, and well does Major Haller deserve mention 
in the history of the northwest, for his efforts contributed in larger measure- 
than the vast majority to the development of this region, for had it not been 
for the protection which he gave to the settlers the Indians would have ren- 
dered impossible the labors of the pioneers in the work of reclaiming the 
wild land for purposes of civilization and planting the industries which have 
led to the material upbuilding of this portion of the countr}'. 

For some time Major Haller was with his command on board the United 
States ship patrolling the waters of the Sound and removed all foreign Indians 
from the district. While thus engaged he also participated in the occupa- 
tion of San Juan island until the boundary question was settled. In 1S60 
he was assigned to Fort Mojave, in Arizona, and while stationed there he 
treated the Indians with such consideration and justice that when his com- 
mand had withdrawn he had so gained the good will of the red race that the 
miners had no hesitation about continuing their operations there, and did 
so without molestation. In 1861 came orders for Major Haller to proceed 
with his command to San Diego, California, and afterward to New York 
city to join the army then being organized by General McClellan. He had 
previously been brevet major, but on the 25ih of September, 1861, was pro- 
moted to major of the Seventh Infantry, but the members of the regiment 
were being held as prisoners of war in Texas and Major Haller reported 
to General McClellan and shortly afterward was appointed commandant gen- 
eral at the general headqtiarters on the staff of McClellan and the Ninety- 
third Regiment of New York Volunteers was placed under his command 
as gviard of the headquarters. iVIajor Haller was thus employed under Gen- 
eral McClellan throughout the Virginia and Maryland campaign and the 
subsequent campaign of General Burnside and also for a short time under 



202 REPRESEXTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

General Hooker. He was then designated provost marshal general of I\Iar\-- 
land and later was detached and sent to York and Gettysburg to muster in 
volunteers and to get all the information possible of the movements of the 
enemy, also to order the citizens to remove the stock and property across the 
Susquehanna out of the way of the Rebel army. 

While thus busily engaged in the ser\-ice of his country Major Haller 
^vas wrongfully reported for disloyalty to the government, and in the latter 
part of July, 1863, he was dismissed from the service without a hearing. 
Astonished beyond measure, he demanded a hearing, which was refused. Not 
satisfied to submit to such a great wrong, after sixteen years of waiting he 
secured a hearing and was fully exonerated. His honor was fully vindicated 
and he was reinstated in the army and commissioned colonel of infantry in 
the United States Regulars. His command was the Twenty-third Infantry, 
and he continued as its colonel from December 11, 1879, to February 6, 1882, 
at which time he was retired, being over sixty-three years of age. 

During the time of his dismissal from the service he had resided in the 
lerritory of Washington and impro\ed a tine farm on Whidbey island, in 
■which he clearly demonstrated the possibilities Washington for the produc- 
tion of products of nearly every description. He was also engaged in the 
manufacture of lumber and in merchandising to quite a large extent and his 
business interests greatly facilitated the settlement and improvement of the 
country, for he was very liberal in giving credit to the settlers who wished 
lo buy provisions and implements and thus enabled many to gain a good start, 
thus carrying on the great work of upbuilding the commonwealth. While 
he was engaged in business he also acquired large grants of land, which were 
at first of little value, but as the state became more thickly settled and land was 
in demand it rose in value and impro\ements also increased its selling price, 
so that it became a large source of income to Colonel Haller and his family. 
Upon his retirement from the service he returned to the state to which he 
had become warmly attached during his former periods of residence here, and 
with his family located in Seattle in 1882. 

The Colonel had been happily married on the 21st of June, 1849, the 
lady of his choice being Miss Henrietta Alaria Cox, a representative of a dis- 
tinguished Irish family descended from Sir Richard Cox, who was her great- 
grandfather and who served as lord chancellor of Ireland. Her people lo- 
cated in Pennsylvania, where she was reared, educatetl and married. The 
union was blessed with li\e chiUlien: Morris, the eldest son, had settled in 
Seattle before the parents took up their abode here and had become promi- 
•.nent as an attorney. He was the organizer of e.\tensi\e business enterprises 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 203 

which liave proven of tlie greatest value and benefit in the upbuilding of the 
material interests of the state. He was one of the organizers of the Seattle, 
Lake Shore & Eastern Railroad Company and various other business affairs 
of great magnitude which contributed not alone to the success of the indi- 
vidual owners and stockholders but also to the general prosperity. In 1889 
he was accidentally drowned while he was on a hunting and fishing trip in 
company with T. T. Minor and E. Louis Cox. His loss was deeply felt 
throughout the state, for his genial nature and sterling worth had gained him 
many friends and his prominence in business affairs had made him a most 
valued factor in public life. Alice Mai Ilaller, the eldest daughter, became 
the wife of Lieutenant William A. Nichols and departed this life, leaving 
two children. Charlotte Eleanor, the surviving daughter, is at home, as is 
the son, Theodore Newell, who has so kindly furnished us with the material 
for the sketch of his honored and distinguished father. Colonel Haller de- 
parted this life on the 2d of May, 1897, and thus ended a most honorable 
career. He was the president of the State Pioneer Society and had attained 
to a distinguished position in the Masonic fraternity, in which he was hon- 
ored with the office of grand master of the grand lodge of the state. He 
was also a Scottish Rite Mason and had attained the thirty-second degree of 
the consistory. He was considered authority on Masonic usages, tenets 
and rites and in his life exemplified the baieficent spirit of the craft. He was 
also the commander of the military order of the Loyal Legion of Washing- 
ton. From the advance in realty values and from other sources he had ac- 
cumulated considerable w^ealth and was enabled to leave his family in very 
comfortable circumstances. The greater part of his life was devoted to his 
country's service, to which he was ever most loyal. He performed a work 
for the northwest in protecting the settlers and in establishing business inter- 
ests here that is of incalculable benefit and cannot be measured by any of the 
known standards of time. His influence was ever on the side of right, of 
progress and advancement, and the social qualities of his nature made him 
3 favorite in all communities with which he was for any length of time con- 
nected. 

His life was noble and the elements 

So mixed in him that Nature might stand up 

And say to all the world. "This was a man." 

Theodore Newell Haller is now the manager and largely the owner of 
the extensive property interests left by his father. The estate includes the 
SDlendid Haller block and numerous other Iniildings in the citv, among which 



204 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

is a very fine residence. There are also extensive tracts of valuable farming 
land, and the careful manner in which T. N. Haller controls his affairs makes 
them a source of profitable income. As before stated, he was only six months 
old when brought to Washington, where he has since resided. He acquired 
his elementary education in the public schools on the Sound, later continued 
his studies in Portland, Oregon, at Peekskill on the Hudson and then en- 
tered Yale College. He studied law with the firm of Burke & Haller, the 
latter being his elder brother. His attention is now largely occupied with 
his extensive business affairs, tie is a Republican in his political views but 
has never aspired to political honors. He enjoys in high degree the con- 
fidence and esteem of a large circle of friends and he is numbered among the 
leading representatives of invested interests here, in the control of which he 
manifests superior business ability and executive force. 

ALFRED L. PALMIER. 

One of the finest business blocks of Seattle, the York Hotel, stands as 
a monument to the enterprise and business ability of Alfred Lee Palmer, 
who has resided in this city since 1882 and has taken a deep and active inter- 
est in the growth and development of the municipality. He is a native of 
Mayyille, Chautauqua county, New York, born on the nth of June, 1835, 
and is descended from English ancestors, who emigrated to that state prior 
to the Revolutionary war. His grandfather, David Palmer, a Revolutionary 
soldier, owned a farm upon which a part of the city of Rochester, New York, 
has since been built. Joseph Palmer, the father of our subject, was born 
on the old family homestead and after arriving at years of maturity he wed- 
ded Miss ilary Hill, a native of Vermont. In the year 1839 they removed 
to Iowa. The territory had been organized only the year prior and they 
became prominent families of the locality. The father, a leading and influ- 
ential citizen, filled the office of probate judge and also served as superin- 
tendent of public instruction. They were members of the Baptist church 
and people of the highest respectability, leaving a deep impress for good upon 
the moral, intellectual and material advancement of the state with which 
they became connected in pioneer times. The father departed this life in the 
seventieth year of his age, while his wife passed away in her fifty-sixth year, 
and of their four children the subject of this review is now the only survivor. 

In the public schools of his native town Alfred L. Palmer began his edu- 
cation, which was continued in Mt. Morris. Illinois, and also in Oberlin 
College, of Oberlin, Ohio. With a broad general knowledge to serve as a 





VnyUiY 



SEATTLE AND KIXG COUNTY. 205 

foundation upon which to rear the superstructure of professional learning, 
he entered the Albany I -aw School, and after graduation was admitted to 
practice by the supreme court of New York. He then opened an office and 
engaged in the prosecution of his profession in Jackson county, Iowa, where 
we find him at the time Fort Sumter was fired upon. In the fall of 1861 he 
closed his law office, sold his books and joined his country's service, enlist- 
ing in Company I, Twelfth Iowa Volunteer Infantry. He w-as sworn in as 
a private but his company elected him second lieutenant. The regiment was 
formed at Dubuque, Iowa, and thence ordered to St. Louis, where it re- 
mained during the fall and part of the winter. Their barracks were made 
of green lumber of logs which floated down the Mississippi river and dur- 
ing the winter the ice froze right on the logs and thus offered but little pro- 
tection from the cold winds, so that many of the soldiers were made ill. Mr. 
Palmer was detached to do recruiting service and secured one hundred men 
for the army. At the battle of Shiloh his regiment was captured, and he, 
with other recruiting officers, was ordered to bring up his men in order to 
fill up the ranks. He reported near Corinth, Mississippi, to General Grant 
and was assigned to the Eighth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, being made captain 
of his company. This regiment, together with other recruits, was formed 
into a union brigade. At the battle of Corinth he was shot through the 
right lung, and being thus unfitted for further duty he was honorably dis- 
charged, but the wound did not heal for years. The ball was taken from 
his shoulder blade and weighs one and one-fourth ounces. 

Being mustered out at St. Louis in 1863, Captain Palmer returned to 
his home and as soon as he had sufficiently recovered his health resumed 
the practice of his profession. He was elected county judge of Jackson 
county and held that office for four years. Hearing that the capital of Ne- 
braska was to be located at Lincoln, he attended the sale of lots there, 
for the town had just been platted by commissioners appointed by the state 
legislature, and made several investments. The money received by the com- 
missioners for these lots was used in the erection of its public buildings, and 
enough lots were disposed of to pay for the entire number of public structures 
erected, consisting of the capitol building, the state universities, insane 
asylum and state penitentiary. Mr. Palmer was quite fortunate in his in- 
vestments there and made money by his real-estate dealings. For fourteen 
years he remained a resident of Lincoln and also engaged in the practice of 
law, winning a desirable clientage, while lor two terms he acceptably served 
as county judge. 



206 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

The year 1882 witnessed Air. Palmer's arrival in Seattle, where he 
purchased property and at once became identilied with the progress and up- 
building of the city. He also made some investments in Tacoma, and in 
addition to the care of his property interests he practiced his profession. 
He built the Palmer house and in 1889 erected the fine brick York hotel. 
He has also built a residence on Lake Washington, where he now resides. 
The York hotel occupies a very desirable site on First avenue and is one of 
the finest buildings of the northwest. It is sixty by eighty feet and five stories 
and basement in heiglit and is composed entirely of brick. Its owner has 
prospered in all his undertakings, for he is a man of keen foresight, unfalter- 
ing determination and strong purpose. To-day he stands among the most 
successful business men of his adopted city and well does he deserve his 
prosperity, for it has been attained by the most honorable business methods. 

In i860 was celebrated the marriage of our subject and Miss Lydia 
Butterworth, but she was only spared to him for a few years and at her death 
left two children, both of whom are now deceased. One of the daughters 
married John Denny and died, leaving two children, Harold and Annie Demiy. 
For his second wife Mr. Palmer chose Miss Rocelia A. Chase, a native of Ver- 
mont, and their union has been blessed with seven children, five sons and two 
daughters, all of whom are still living: Frank, who is now in the real-estate 
business; Hattie, the wife of Donald B. Olson, of Dawson; Don H., who is 
now a student in his third year at the Rush Medical College in Chicago ; Leet 
R., who is in college; Lee Chase, a student in the high school; Ben B., also at 
school; and Esther, also attending school. 

In his political views Mr. Palmer was formerly a Douglas Democrat but 
when he became a member of the Grand Army of the Republic he joined the 
Republican party and was one of its active and earnest supporters until the 
money question became the dominant issue before the people. Believing that 
gold and silver should both be established as a standard and the Republicans 
acknowledging only the gold standard, he withdrew his support and is now 
independent in his political views. Mr. Palmer was made a Mason in 
Bellevue, Iowa, and had just received an entered apprentice degree when he 
went into the army. When lying wounded and almost dying of thirst the 
kind offices of a brother Mason were the means of saving his life. In 1888 
he was honored with the office of eminent grand commander of Knights 
Templar of the state of Washington. He has now retired from active practice 
of his profession, his attention being fully occupied with the supervision of 
his investments. His has been a career worthy emulation and deserving the 
highest coniniendatiiin. The ])riiniptness with wliich he responded to what 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 207 

he believed to be his duty in the Civil \var has always been a characteristic of 
his life and to-day he stands among the honored, respected and successful 
men of his adopted state. 

JOHN BEARD ALLEN. 

The above named gentleman has been a conspicuous figure in the legis- 
lative and judicial histor}- of the state. The public life of few other illus- 
trious citizens of Washington has extended over a longer period and cer- 
tainly the life of none has been more varied in service, more fearless in con- 
duct or more stainless in reputation. His career has been one of activity, 
full of incidents and results. In every sphere of life in which he has been 
called upon to move he has made an indelible impression and by his excel- 
lent public service and upright life he has honored the state which has hon- 
ored him with high official preferment. He is now giving his entire atten- 
tion to the practice of law as a member of the firm of Struve, Allen, Hughes 
& McMicken, of Seattle, which occupies a leading position at the bar of this 
commonwealth. 

Mr. Allen is a native of Lidiana, his birth having occurred in Craw- 
fordsville. that state, on the i8th of May, 1845. He is descended from En- 
glish ancestors who at an early epoch in the history of Pennsylvania took 
up their abode in that state. They were members of the Society of Friends, 
or Quakers, and were noted for their uprightness of character. Joseph Allen, 
the great-grandfather of our subject, became one of the pioneers of Lidiana 
and was a mill-owner and manufacturer in the early history of that state. 
His son, Joseph Allen, Jr., the grandfather of John B. Allen, was born in 
Pennsylvania and with his father removed to Indiana. He became a well 
educated man, was an expert civil engineer and surveyed many of the 
national roads in that state before the rails had marked the path of travel 
with steam as the motive power of transportation. His son, the third to 
bear the name of Joseph Allen, was born in Indiana, in 1814, and was a 
physician and surgeon. When the country became involved in Civil war he 
offered his aid to the government in caring for the sick and wounded and 
was commissioned surgeon of the Tenth Indiana Volunteer Infantry. A 
part of the time he was attached to the Fourth Brigade under General 
Thomas. After the war he settled in Rochester, Minnesota, where he prac- 
ticed his profession for a number of years, and then removed to Washington. 
Later he was stricken with paralysis, which incapacitated him for the further 
performance of professional duties, and he departed this life in 1874, at the 



208 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

age of sixty years. He was a well informed and faithful medical practitioner 
and his skill and abilit}' were recognized in the liberal patronage accorded 
him. He held membership in the Presbyterian church and was a most worthy 
citizen and honorable man. 

In the years of his early manhood Dr. Josepli Allen had chosen for his 
wife Miss Hannah Cloud Beard, a native of Indiana and a daughter of Hon. 
John Beard, a gentleman who was closely identified with the organization 
and promotion of nearly all of the public institutions of the state of Indiana. 
l'"or a period of thirty years he was a member of the state legislature, serving 
continuously either in the house or senate. He took a special interest in the 
building of the institution for the deaf and blind of his state and he left the 
impress of his individuality for good upon many measures which have been 
of the greatest benefit to that commonwealth. Unto Dr. Allen and his wife 
were born eight children, of whom only three are now living. The wife and 
mother died in the forty-ninth year of her age. She was a devout Christian, 
whose life was in harmony with her professed belief as a member of the 
Presbyterian church. She was devoted to her family, was of most amiable 
manner and kindly disposition and was beloved by all who had the pleasure 
of her acquaintance. 

John Beard Allen, who was the fourth nieniber of Dr. Allen's family, 
obtained his literary education in Wabash College, and then determining to 
make the practice of law his life work he began studying in the office and 
under the direction of the Hon. Charles C. Wilson, of Rochester, Minnesota, 
after which he took the law course in the Michigan I'niversity at Ann Arbor, 
and was admitted to practice in the fall of i868. Opening an office in Ro- 
chester. Minnesota, he was engaged in practice at that place for a year, and 
in the spring of 1870 came to Washington, locating at Olympia, where he 
prosecuted his profession for a year. The district was then a new country 
and it was difficult to get along for some time, but gradually his patronage 
grew into a large and paying business. 

While residing in Olympia Mr. Allen was appointed by President Grant 
to the position of United States attorney for the territory and was re- 
appointed by both Presidents Hayes and Garfield. During his ten years in- 
cumbency in that office he was practically a circuit rider, for it was the era 
preceding the advent of railroads, when travel was by stage over the rough 
mountain roads. He proved a most capable official, faithfully defending the 
legal interests of the state and gaining prominence by his masterly handling 
of intricate legal problems. While residing in Olympia Mr. Allen also edited 
volumes one and two of the reports of the supreme court of the territory, 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 209 

from the time of its establishment until 1883. In 18S1 he removed to Walla 
Walla and continued practice in eastern Washington and in the supreme 
court. In 1888 he made the canvass for the position of delegate to congress 
on the Republican ticket. This was one of the most exciting and arduous 
campaigns ever made in the history of Washington. His party had been 
defeated at the two preceding elections, but he was elected by a very large 
popular vote, receiving a larger majority than had ever been given to any 
previous candidate. Before he took his seat Washington was admitted to 
the Union and he was then elected United States senator by the first state 
legislature. Three states were admitted to the Union during that session 
of congress, the two Dakotas and Washington. The members of the sen- 
ate were divided into three classes, the term of one-third expiring every two 
years, thus constituting the senate a continuous body. As a new state is 
admitted its senators take places for the terms of ofhce in the uncompleted 
classes. In order to conform to this rule the three states just admitted were 
required to draw lots for their class position and after that the senators from 
each state had to draw lots between themselves to determine the length of 
their respective terms. Mr. Allen drew the four-years term, which expired 
March 4, 1893, and was again a candidate before the legislature for the 
ofifice. In the legislature of one hundred and twelve members, seventy-five 
were Republicans, the balance being Populists and Democrats. In a Repub- 
lican caucus thirty-eight would have constituted a majority sufficient for a 
nomination, but a minority of the party refused to caucus and fifty members 
went into caucus, of whom forty-nine cast their ballots for Mr. Allen. While 
he had a continuous support of fifty-two or fifty-three members throughout 
the session, the legislature failed to elect and his supporters declined to as- 
sent to his withdrawal, so that the legislature adjourned without choosing 
a United States senator. He was then appointed to the position by Governor 
John H. McGraw. A like failure occurred in Montana and in Wyoming, 
but the senate declined lo seat the appointed senator on account of a 
precedent in similar cases, and that precedent has since been followed. 

After Mr. Allen's retirement from the senate the present law firm of 
Struve, Allen, Hughes & McMicken was formed in Seattle. Its members 
are all men of superior education and broad experience, standing high in the 
profession, and their practice embraces much of the most important litiga- 
tion of the state. Mr. Allen now devotes his entire attention to his practice. 
He has a keenly analytical mind and determines with accuracy the strong 
points in a suit without losing sight of the details. He is exacting in the 
research and care with wliich he pi'epares his cases and in argument he is 



2 10 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

strong. His ability has drawn to him a large practice, and his success indi- 
cates his mastery of the principles ui jurisprudence. 

In 1871 Mr. Allen was united in marriage to ^liss Cecelia M. Bateman, 
a native of the city of Grand Rapids, Michigan, and a daughter of the Hon. 
Hiram Bateman, a man of prominence and influence in his state, who has 
served as a member of the legislature and has been active in molding public 
policy. He and two of his sons served their country in the Union army 
throughout the Civil war, strong in their love for the Union and their loy- 
alty to the flag. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Allen have been born five children, two 
sons and three daughters. Mrs. Allen is a member of the Congregational 
church and has served for two terms as president of the Red Cross Society 
of the state of Washington. 

Not only in positions of political preferment has Mr. Allen served his 
country, for he, too, at the time of the war of the Rebellion joined the boys 
in blue. He enlisted in Company H, One Hundred and Thirty-fifth Regi- 
ment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, in 1864. His service was in eastern Ten- 
nessee and Alabama and at the close of the war he received an honorable 
discharge. He was but nineteen years of age when he volunteered and it 
was at the time when the great war had become a tremendous struggle. 
]Many thousands of the brave men from both north and south had been killed 
and vast numbers maimed for life, and at no time in the history of the san- 
guinary struggle did it require more devoted love of country or more bravery 
to enlist. The same fearless devotion to duty has e\'er marked the career of 
Mr. Allen and has won for him the highest respect and admiration. In man- 
ner he is quiet and unassuming, yet is of the highest type of our American 
manhood, a fine representative of our citizenship, a lawyer of broad learning 
and at all times a man of the very highest honor and integrity, whose record 
reflects credit upon the city in which he makes his home and upon the bar of 
the state. 

ORANGE JACOBS. 

Perhaps there is no part of this history of more general interest than the 
record of the bar. It is well known that the peace, prosperity and well-being 
of every community depend upon the wise interpretation of the laws, as well 
as upon their judicious framing, and therefore the records of the various per- 
sons who have at various times made up the bar will form an important part 
of this work. A well known jurist of Illinois said : "In the American state 
ihe great and good lawyer must always be prominent, for he is one of the 



■<^' ../<**" ' 




ORANGE JACOBS 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 211 

forces that move and control society. Public confidence has generally been 
reposed in the legal profession. It has ever been the defender of popular 
rights, the champion of freedom regulated by law, the firm supporter of good 
government. In the times of danger it has stood like a rock and breasted 
the mad passions of the hour and finally resisted tumult and fraction. No 
Political preferment, no mere place, can add to the power or increase the 
honor which belongs to the pure and educated lawyer." Orange Jacobs, of 
Seattle, is one who has been honored by and is an honor to the legal fraternity 
of Washington. He stands to-day prominent among the leading members of 
the bar of the state, a position which he has attained through marked ability. 
He has moreover been honored with the highest judicial office within the gift 
of the state and upon the bench sustained the dignity of the hiw which stands 
as a conservator of human rights, liberties, life and justice. 

Judge Jacobs is a native of Geneseo, Livingston county. New York, born 
on the 2nd of May, 1829, and is of English ancestry, the family, however, 
having been founded in Massachusetts at an early epoch in colonial history. 
Captain Hiram Jacobs, the father of our subject, was born in New Hamp- 
shire and won his title by service in the Black Hawk war. He married Miss 
Phebe Jinkins, a native of Massachusetts. They removed to Sturgis, Michi- 
gan, in 1830, and became pioneer farming people of that portion of the ter- 
ritory. Captain Jacobs was an earnest Christian man who served as a class 
leader in the Methodist church and was active in promoting the cause of 
Christianity in every possible way. He was also a leader in public afifairs 
and in the early history of his county filled the office of deputy sheriff, while 
for many years he was overseer of the poor. In 1849 '''^ crossed the plains 
to California, meeting with e.xcellent success in his undertakings, where he 
remained for three years. He was a man of the highest probity of character 
and died at the ripe old age of ninety years, departing this life in 1897. His 
wife also lived to an advanced age and shared with him in his Christian work 
and in rearing their family of noble children. They had si.x sons and three 
daughters, and with one exception all are living. 

Judge Jacobs, who is the second in order of birth, pursued his education 
in the primitive log school house that was founded on the frontier and in 
-Albion Seminary, while later he was a student in the State University of 
Michigan at .Vnn Arbor. When a young man he engaged in teaching school 
and also tcx)k up tlie study of law, intending to make its practice his life work. 
In 1852 he was admitted to the bar, and believing that he might have better 
opportunity in the new and growing west he crossed the plains to Oregon, 
locating first in Marion county, near Salem. In 1857 he removed to Jackson 



212 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

county, where for several years ho had a large law practice. He was also an 
important factor in shaping j)ublic sentiment in fa\or of the Union and 
against secession, and in order to promote opposition to slavery for a num- 
ber of years he edited and puljlished the Jacksonville Sentinel. Through its 
columns he took a strong position against oppression and the secession move- 
ment of the south. When the Republican party was formed to prevent the 
further extension of slavery, he joined its ranks, and such was his ability and 
his prominence in the party that he lacked but one vote of becoming its can- 
didate for the United States senate. At last, however, the good work that 
he had done for the party and for the government during the dark days of the 
great Civil war was recognized by President Grant, and in 1867 he received 
the appointment of associate justice of the supreme court of Washington 
territory, while in less than a year, without solicitation on his part, the legis- 
lature of the territory asked the president to give him the appointment of 
chief justice of Washington. President Grant immediately complied and for 
six years Judge Jacobs continued on the bench, filling that high and honor- 
able office in a manner that showed forth his good judgment and great legal 
ability and reflected credit upon the judicial history of the state. In 1879 he 
resigned the office after being nominated as the Republican candidate for the 
office of delegate to the United States congress. He made an efficient can- 
vass and was elected, serving his territory in a distinguished manner in the 
Fifty-fourth and Fifty-fifth congresses. He was verj- active in trying to 
secure its admission into the Union, also in gaining increased postal facilities 
for the territory and in the passage of the light house bill. It was also ow- 
ing to his efforts that the law was enacted for the relief of the settlers who 
had taken up their residence along the original survey of the Northern Pa- 
cific railroad. Had it not been for the passage of this bill many of those 
settlers would have lost their land and homes, for they had taken possession 
thereof in good faith and had probably invested their all in obtaining the 
property. After serving for two terms in congress Judge Jacobs declined 
a re-nomination and returned to Seattle, where he resumed the practice of 
his profession. 

\\'hile his efforts in behalf of the state have been recognized as of great 
value, his labors in Seattle have been of much benefit to the city. In 1880 
he was elected mayor and while serving in that capacity did all in his power 
to secure reforms in the financial management of the city and in the police 
force. His administration was one of progress and improvement and re- 
ceived the endorsement of the majority of the best citizens of Seattle. At 
the close of his term he declined a re-election, but in 18S4 he was again called 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 213 

to public life, being elected a member of the territorial council, in which he 
served as chairman of the judiciary committee and of the committee on edu- 
cation. He became very active in securing the appropriations for the peni- 
tentiary, the insane asylum and the university and for many years he took 
a very deep and active interest in promoting the welfare of the university. 
He served for many years on its board of regents and for ten years acted 
as treasurer of the board. He is certainly entitled to much credit for placing 
the university in its present high position among the institutions of learning 
in this country. In 1899 Judge Jacobs was elected a member of the com- 
mission to form a new charter for the city of Seattle and here his signa( 
ability and knowledge of law proved of great value in securing the paper 
which gives a legal existence to the city. This charter was adopted by the 
people in 1890 and under the new charter he had the honor of being elected 
corporation counsel. In 1896 he was elected one of the supreme judges 
of King county, in which position he most ably served for four years, hav- 
ing charge of the criminal department most of the time. During the whole 
of his long service on the bench very few of the cases decided by him were 
carried to the supreme court and he had but three criminal cases reversed. 
Judge Jacobs is still in the active practice of law under the firm name of Jacobs 
& Jacobs, his sons, Hiram J. and A. L., being his efficient partners. His 
law practice is large and remunerative, and has connected him with the most 
important litigation heard in the courts of his district through the past two 
decades. He has won for himself very favorable criticism for the careful and 
systematic methods which he has followed. He has remarkable powers of 
concentration and application, and his retentive mind has often excited the 
surprise of his professional colleagues. As an orator he stands high, es- 
pecially in the discussion of legal matters before the court, where his com- 
])rehensive knowledge of the law is manifest and his application of legal 
principles demonstrates the wide range of his professional acquirements. The 
utmost care and precision characterize his preparation of a case and have 
made him one of the most successful attorneys in Seattle. 

On the 1st of January, 1857, was celebrated the marriage of Judge 
Jacobs and Miss Lucinda Davenport, a native of Ohio and a daughter of 
Doctor Benjamin Davenport, of the Buckeye state, who became an Oregon 
pioneer of 1850. Seven children have been born unto the Judge and his 
v.ife, all of whom have been reared to maturity and the family circle yet re- 
mains unbroken. In order of birth they are as follows : Hiram J. ; Alira- 
ham Lincoln; Harry Edwin; Orange; Estella, now the wife of A. L. Clark. 
of Seattle; and Donna and Jessie, who are at home with their parents. The 



214 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

Judge lias been a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows since 
1848 and has filled all of the offices in the subordinate lodge. He is one of 
the oldest representatives of the fraternity in the state and he is also identi- 
fied with the Masons, having reached the sublime degree of a Master Mason 
in Sturgis, Michigan, in 1852. He is a man of unimpeachable character, 
of unusual intellectual endowments and stands as one of the ablest repre- 
sentatives of his profession in the state, but while his legal practice has gained 
him distinction, his work in behalf of the commonwealth and of humanity 
has made him loved and respected throughout Washington. He has con- 
tributed to the intellectual development, has aided in forming the policy of 
the state, as manifest along many lines of progress, and his ability and keen 
discrimination have resulted to the general good. 

ALBERT M. BROOKES. 

In a history of the men whose business activity has won Seattle com- 
mercial prominence, Albert Marsdon Brookes deserves honorable and promi- 
nent mention. His business career has been one of continual advancement, 
and from a position of little importance he has worked his way upward until 
he stands to-day among the wealthy men of the city, respected and honored 
by all on account of the straightforward methods which he has ever fol- 
lowed. His residence here dates from March, 1877, his early life having 
been passed in the middle west. 

Mr. Brookes is a native of Galena, Illinois, his birth having occurred on 
the 2d of September, 1843. The family is of English origin. His grand- 
father, Samuel Brookes, was a distinguished botanist of England and im- 
ported into that country the first chrysanthemums, which were brought from 
Japan. Joshua Brookes, a great-uncle of our subject, was a celebrated sur- 
geon and at one time a director of the Zoological Gardens. Samuel Mars- 
don Brookes, the father of our subject, was born in England and attained 
great skill and renown as an artist. His specialty was the painting of still 
life, and many valuable works from his brush are scattered over the world. 
His pictures sold for very high prices and his work commanded great praise 
from the critics. Leaving his native country he emigrated to Chicago in 
1834, when it contained only about six hundred inhabitants, including the 
garrison. ]\Ir. Brookes was a pioneer of Milwaukee, and remained there 
until i860, when he removed to San Francisco, where he continued his 
painting. One of his canvases, life-size portrait, sold to ]\Irs. Hopkins for 
twenty-five hundred dollars. A rather humorous incident is told concerning 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 215 

one of his paintings, but it illustrates how remarkably true and life-like was 
his work. On one occasion he had completed a painting of a full-sized salmon 
which had just been caught, the water still dripping from its tail. A gen- 
tleman greatly admired it and wished to buy it, the price being fifteen hun- 
dred dollars, but before deciding to take the picture he brought his wife to 
see it. She objected to his making the purchase, saying she wouldn't like it 
because it was so real and she felt just as if she could smell fish. Samuel M. 
Brookes had great enthusiasm and zeal in his work and his art won high 
praise. In religious faith he was a strict Presbyterian. He departed this 
life in San Francisco, at the age of seventy-six years, while his good wife, 
who was about five years his junior, survived him for about that period. 
She was the mother of fourteen children, of whom five died in infancy, while 
nine reached mature years. 

In the public schools of Milwaukee Albert M. Brookes began his edu- 
cation, which was continued in the academy there. When he was only 
eighteen years of age the great Civil war burst upon the country. He was 
too young to enlist at the first call, but when President Lincoln asked for 
three hundred thousand men the following year he responded, enlisting on 
the 1st of August, 1862, as a member of Company K, Twenty-fourth Regi- 
ment, Wisconsin Infantry. The regiment was sent to the front under com- 
mand of Colonel Larrabee, and the division was first under General Nelson 
and later under General Phil Sheridan, who remained in command until 
transferred to Virginia. The first battle in which j\Ir. Brookes participated 
was at Perryville, and later he took part in the engagements at Murfreesboro, 
Stone River, Tullahoma, Chattanooga and Missionary Ridge, where the 
Union forces covered themselves with glory, winning a splendid victory 
against great odds. He was afterward in the battles of Rocky Face Gap, 
Resaca, Dallas Court House, Kennesaw Mountain and the siege of Atlanta, 
besides many intermediate engagements. He then returned with General 
Thomas and participated in the battles of Franklin and Nashville. His regi- 
ment went out with ele\-en hundred and fifty men and returned after three 
years' service with only two hundred and fifty. Mr. Brookes was mustered 
out at the close of the war. ha\ing served his country most faithfully. He 
never lost a single day and seemed to be possessed of a charmed life, for 
neither wounds nor ill health prevented his response to roll-call or the valor- 
ous performance of duty upon the field of battle. He returned to the north at 
the age of twenty-two years, a \ictor and a veteran, and his is a grand mili- 
tary record equalled by few of the brave volunteers who went forth in de- 
fense of countrv. 



2i6 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

In the meantime Mr. Brookes' parents had removed to San Francisco 
and he joined them on the Pacific coast early in September, 1865. Almost 
immediately thereafter he received an appointment as clerk in the San Fran- 
cisco postoffice, General Randall, the postmaster-general, being a friend of 
his father's. He filled various positions in the postoi^ce, discharging hi^ 
duties so satisfactorily that he was three times promoted during the twelve 
years of his connection w ith the mail service of San Francisco, beginning in 
a humble capacity and terminating his service in the position next to assist- 
ant postmaster. In 1877, however, he resigned m order to come to Seattle — 
a step which he has never had occasion to regret. 

Upon his arrival he becaine a partner with his brother-in-law in the 
wholesale liquor and cigar business. In 1885 he became interested in a gen- 
eral mercantile store at Black Diamond and remained there for two years, 
after which he returned to Seattle and purchased an interest in the cracker 
factory, being made president of the company which owned it. The business 
met with very gratifying success and ]\Ir. Brookes is still a large stockholder 
in the enterprise. In 1889 he had the honor of being appointed postmaster 
of Seattle by President Benjamin Harrison, his long connection with the 
postoffice in San Francisco eminently fitting him for the work. He had l^een 
in charge only a short time when the great fire swept over the city and the 
postoffice was the only brick building which escaped, but great efforts were 
put forth to save it and the task w-as at length accomplished. When Mr. 
Brookes took charge of the office he at once set to work to systematize it and 
succeeded in making it one of the best in the entire country and a credit to 
the city. His arrangements made it possible to conduct the business with 
great accuracy and dispatch, and for this he received very high commenda- 
tion. After two years' service he resigned to accept the position of cashier 
in the Boston National Bank, which was organized by him and other promi- 
nent business men, and of this institution he has been a stockholder and 
director from the beginning. The duties of the cashiership he has dis- 
charged to the fullest satisfaction of all concerned, and it is owing to his 
efforts, in a large measure, that the bank has won its creditable position 
among the financial enterprises of the state. The bank is capitalized for one 
hundred and eighty thousand dollars and from its opening has enjoyed a 
constantly growing business. Mr. Brookes is also a director and stockholder 
in the Diamond Ice Company and has acquired a large amount of city real 
estate. 

!Mr. Brookes has built a beautiful home, adorned with all that wealth 
can secure and refined taste suggest and standing in the midst of magnificent 





Jti^iA^ I4i, (f^ *^ 



Cf-^u 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 217 

grounds, showing the art of the landscape gardener. In 1873 Mr. Brookes 
was united in marriage to Miss Laura Hannath, a native of Toronto, Canada. 
They have one daughter, Elise. They are all members of the Episcopal 
church, Mr. Brookes having aided in building the first church of that denomi- 
nation in the city and also the present St. Mark's church. He is an active 
and valued member of the Grand Army post, being one of the first repre- 
sentatives of the order on the Pacific coast, and in 1886 he had the honor of 
being elected department commander. His life has been an upright and 
straightforward one, his success has been achieved along the lines of legiti- 
mate activity and unfaltering energy and he has well earned the uniform 
regard that is extended to him by the business men of the state. 

JOHN M. LYON. 

The days of chivalry and knighthood in Europe cannot furnish more 
interesting or romantic tales than our own western history. Into the wild 
mountain fastness of the unexplored west went brave men, whose courage 
was often called forth in encounters with hostile savages. The land was 
rich in all natural resources, in gold and silver, in agricultural and commer- 
cial possibilities, and awaited the demands of man to yield up its treasures; 
but its mountain heights were hard to climb, its forests were difficult to pene- 
trate, and the magnificent trees, the dense bushes or the jagged rocks often 
sheltered the skulking foe, who resented the encroachment of the pale faces 
upon their hunting grounds. The establishment of homes in this beautiful 
region therefore meant sacrifices, hardships and oft times death, but there were 
some men, however, brave enough to meet the red man in his own familiar 
haunts and undertake the task of reclaiming the district for purposes of civi- 
lization. The rich mineral stores of this vast region were thus added to the 
wealth of the nation ; its magnificent forests contributed to the lumber indus- 
tries and its fertile valleys added to the opportunities of the farmer and stock 
raiser, and today the northwest is one of the most productive sections of the 
entire country, That this is so is due to such men as John M. Lyon, whose 
name is inseparably interwoven with the history of the region. 

John Miron Lyon was born in the city of Jackson, Michigan, March 
13, 1840, and is of Scotch and German ancestry. His father, John Lyon, 
was born in Rochester, New York, and there married Miss Charlotte C. 
Cramer, of the same place. Her father was born in Germany and her mother 
was a member of the noted Sherman family of the United States. Soon 
after their marriage the parents of our subject removed to Michigan, which 



2i8 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

was then a Western district, in which the work of progress and civihzation 
had scarcely been begun. Mr. Lyon secured three hundred and twenty acres 
of land, on part of which the city of Jackson now stands. He was the 
founder of the city, he and others building a number of the first houses in 
the place. Being taken ill with brain fever he died, leaving to his w'ife the 
care of their three children. She was afterward married again. The estate 
which Mr. Lyon left was badly managed but the widow retained eighty acres, 
which is now within the corporation limits of Jackson. By her second mar- 
riage she had five children, of whom three are living. She was born in 1810 
and departed this life in 1865, at the age of fifty-five. Of the first marriage 
only two are living, D. B. Lyon, of Red Blufif, who was a pioneer on the 
Pacific coast in 1852; and John M. 

The latter was educated in the public schools of his native state and 
pursued a preparatory course in Ann Arbor. Two of his brothers were upon 
the Pacific coast, and in 1S60, when in his twentieth year, he took passage at 
New York for San Francisco, where he arrived safely after a voyage of 
tw-enty-two days. The ship upon which he made the voyage upon the Pacific 
was the well known John L. Stevens. Upon his arrival Mr. Lyon proceeded 
up the Sacramento river to Red Bluff and engaged in clerking for his brother, 
who was in the book and jewelry business there. His other brother con- 
ducted the telegraph and express office in the same building and John M. 
Lyon remained in their employ for a year and a half. During that time he 
acquired a knowledge of telegraphy and he also read law for some time in 
the oftice of Earl & Myrich. but having quickly acquired a knowledge of 
telegraphy he was offered a position in Portland, Oregon, and became man- 
ager of the Western Union Telegraph office at that place. A year later he 
was sent through Oregon and Washington to establish offices for the com- 
pany and give instruction to the operators. He also put the instruments in 
order and upon the completion of the line to New Westminster, in British 
Columbia, connecting with the Western Union extension, Mr. Lyon was 
given charge of the office at that place, but soon afterward the Atlantic cable 
was laid and this caused the extension of the Russian line to be abandoned. 
However, six hundred miles had been constructed at a loss of one million 
one hundred thousand dollars. While Mr. Lyon was at Westminster the 
queen's potlatch was given to the Indians, who were invited from all along 
the coast. They came in such large numbers that the supply of presents was 
exhausted and trouble was only avoided by the agents buying out a hard- 
ware and grocery store and presenting the goods to the red men. Great 
excitement prevailed, but the arrival of three gunboats prevented the outbreak 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 219 

and no doubt saved the lives of many white settlers. In the fall of 1865 Mr. 
Lyon came to Seattle, which city had been made the headquarters of the tele- 
graph company. He received the appointment of circuit manager of all the 
lines north of Portland, and continued in that capacity until 1882, at which 
time he resigned and severed his connection with the company, which, how- 
ever, was very loath to dispense with his services. He had also been agent 
of the Puget Sound Telegraph Company, in control of their lines connect- 
ing Seattle with Port Townsend. 

Mr. Lyon, on abandonmg telegraphic work, opened a book and station- 
ery store in this city, successfully carrying on operations in that department 
of mercantile activity until 1887, when he closed out his store, having been 
appointed by President Cleveland to the position of postmaster of Seattle. 
He filled that position most capably until a change occurred in the presidential 
administration. During his term of office he established the letter carrier 
system in the city and the receipts of the office increased from twelve to fifty- 
five thousand dollars per year. Mr. Lyon also served three terms in the city 
council and was chairman of the committee on streets and finance. On his 
retirement he was for some time engaged in the supervision of his real-estate 
and other business interests, and later he purchased the store which is ownd 
and controlled by himself and his son, F. A. Lyon. It is a well-appointed 
book and stationery store located at No. 207 Pike avenue and the firm re- 
ceives a large patronage, owing to their excellent business ability, capable 
management, reasonable prices and straightforward policy. 

In 1865, at Claquato, Lewis county, Washington, Mr. Lyon was united 
in marriage to Miss Livonia Huntington, a daughter of Jacob Huntington, 
a pioneer of 1852, who crossed the plains with a band of cattle in that year, 
also bringing his family with him. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Lyon have been 
bom four children: Callie, the wife of Benjamin F. Cobb; Charlotte, who 
is the wife of A. L. Washburn and resides with her parents; F. Arthur, who 
is with his father in business; and Susan Gertrude, at home. The family 
are members of St. Mark's Episcopal church. They have a very pleasant 
home, their lawn being adorned with flowers and shrubs of their own plant- 
ing. The family is widely and favorably known in this state and they are 
members of the Pioneer Society. The work which has engrossed the greater 
part of Mr. Lyon's life has been of a most important character, proving not 
only a source of livelihood for himself, but of the greatest possible benefit 
to his fellow-men in the northwest, for the establishment of telegraphic com- 
munication has had marked influence upon the commercial history of this 
section of the country. Mr. Lyon thoroughly enjoys home life and takes 



220 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

great pleasure in the society of his family and friends. He is always cour- 
teous, kindly and affable, and those who know him personally have for hirri 
warm regard. A man of great natural ability, his success in business, from 
the beginning of his residence in Seattle, was uniform and rapid. As has 
been truly remarked, after all that may be done for a man in the way of giv- 
ing him early opportunities for obtaining the requirements which are sought 
in the schools and in books, he must essentially formulate, determine and 
give shape to his own character; and this is what Mr. Lyon has done. He 
has persevered in the pursuit of a persistent purpose and gained the most 
satisfactory reward. His life is exemplary in all respects and he has ever 
supported those interests which are calculated to uplift and benefit humanity, 
while his own moral worth is deserving of the highest commendation. 

JAMES DOSTER HOGE, Jr. 

The president of the First National Bank of Seattle is the youngest 
national bank president in the entire United States, but his ability as a finan- 
cier, his keen discrimination and his executive power do not seem to be lim- 
ited by his years. He is a native of Zanesyille, Ohio, born on the 21st of Sep- 
tember, 1871, and is of Scotch lineage, his ancestors having left the land of 
hills and heather to establish a home in Virginia when that .state was num- 
bered among the colonial possessions of the Engli-sh. They were people of 
the highest respectability and were widely and favorably known in connec- 
tion with the early history of the Old Dominion. Israel, the grandfather of 
our subject, was born at Winchester, Virginia, in 1802, and was there mar- 
ried to Betsey Doster, who also represented an old Virginia family connected 
with the Society of Friends. In 1840 the grandparents removed to Ohio, 
becoming pioneer 'settlers of Zanesville, where the grandfather engaged in 
the manufacture of matches, being one of the first representatives of that line 
of business in the entire country. He was also a chemist and druggist and 
his business interests were important and lucrative. His political support 
was given the Democracy and he had the honor of being appointed by Presi- 
dent James Buchanan to the position of postmaster at Zanesville. He was 
in manner most cordial, courteous and hospitable, a representative of the old 
type of true southern gentlemen. He died at the age of eighty-four years, 
his death resulting from injuries caused by a fall. His wife had departed 
this life in her fortieth year. 

Their son, James D. Hoge, Sr., the father of otn- subject, was born in 
Zanesville in 1836, obtained his education there and became a prominent 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. ^Xi 

electrician. For many years he was manager of the local Western Union 
telegraph office and had tiie reputation of being the champion telegrapher 
of the world at that early day in the development of the science. He was 
opposed to slavery and to the secession sentiment which was growing in the 
south, and therefore joined the Republican party, which was fonned to pre- 
vent the further extension of slavery. He still strongly endorses its prin- 
ciples and yet makes his home in ZanesviUe, where he is very highly re- 
spected. He married Miss Anna Slack, a native of his own county, and a 
daughter of John B. Slack, an Ohio pioneer of prominence. Her father was 
an earnest member of the Baptist church and equally strong in his political 
faith, which was that of the Democracy. His life was so honored and up- 
right that he commanded the esteem and respect of all who knew him. Unto 
Mr. and Airs. Hoge were born a son and a daughter. The latter became the 
wife of Hon. Frederick James Grant, a gentleman of marked literary promise 
who resided in Seattle, but who lost his life in a shipwreck at sea. 

James Doster Hoge, Jr., obtained his preliminary education in the pub- 
lic schools of his native state and also attended the high school, while later he 
pursued a commercial course in a business college. Thinking the west would 
ofifer better opportunities for young men just starting out in business, he 
came to Seattle when eighteen years of age and accepted a position as stenog- 
rapher with ex-governor John H. McGraw. The following fall he was given 
a position in the First National Bank of this city, serving first as messenger 
boy and stenographer, but his ability, willingness and ready mastery of the 
duties intrusted to him soon won recognition and he was promoted from time 
to time until he was finally given charge of the notes, discounts and collections. 
In 1894, in partnership with his brother-in-law, Frederic J. Grant, he pur- 
chased the Post Intelligencer from L. S. J. Hunt. Mr. Hoge then spent 
a few months in the east acquainting himself with the workings of daily 
papers, and in the fall of that year he assumed the business management of 
the journal, of which he became general manager a year later, continuing in 
that capacity with marked ability until September, 1897, at which time he 
sold the paper to the Piper Brothers. He had applied himself to his work so 
strenuously that rest for recuperation became necessary, and to gain this he 
made a tour around the world, nine months later returning to Seattle. He 
purchased an interest in the First National Bank of Seattle, and in September, 
1898, was elected its president, which position he has since filled in a manner 
reflecting credit upon the institution and upon himself. He has also been 
one of the organizers of the Bank of Cape Nome, in Alaska, and is to-day its 
president. He has various other business interests, but devotes his atten- 



222 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

tion almost exclusively to the management of the First National Bank, of 
which he is the popular president. A prompt, energetic business man, a 
capable and careful financier, merit has secured his advancement to the posi- 
tion which he now occupies. He is thoroughly informed concerning the 
business interests of the city and is highly esteemed by the patrons of the 
bank and by the business men of Seattle. 

In his political views Mr. Hoge is an active Republican, and is treasurer 
of the Republican state central committee, using his influence and aid to ad-, 
vance the cause in which he so firmly believes and which he feels sure will 
best promote the welfare of state and nation. 

In December, 1894, Mr. Hoge was married to Miss Ethel Hanna, a 
native of Mattoon, Illinois, and a daughter of John W. Hanna, of Seattle. 
Their union has been blessed by the birth of two daughters, Mary Louise and 
Anna Roberta. The parents are mem.bers of St. Mark's Episcopal church, in 
which Mr. Hoge is serving as one of the vestrymen. The first chapter of an 
eventful, prosperous and honorable business career has been written, but it 
is not difficult to imagine what his future history will be, for his salient char- 
acteristics are well known. He possesses the enterprising and indomitable 
spirit of the west, combined with good judgment and foresight, and, more- 
over, his business principles and conduct will bear the closest investigation. 

FRANK W. SPEAR. 

No compendium such as the province of this work defines in its essen- 
tial limitations will serve to ofifer fit memorial to the life and accomplish- 
ments of the honored subject of this sketch — a man remarkable in the 
breadth of his wisdom, in his indomitable perseverance, his strong individu- 
ality, and yet one whose entire life has not one esoteric phase, being an open 
.=croll, inviting the closest scrutiny. True, his have been "massive deeds and 
great'' in one sense, and yet his entire life accomplishment but represents the 
result of the fit utilization of the innate talent which is his, and the directing 
of his efforts in those lines where mature judgment and rare discrimination 
lead the way. There is in Frank W. Spear a weight of character, a native 
sagacity, a far-seeing judgment and a fidelity of purpose that commands the 
respect of all. A man of indefatigable enterprise and fertility of recourse, he 
has carved his name deeply on the record of the commercial, industrial and 
philanthropical history of the state which owes much of its advancement to 
his efforts. 

Mr. Spear was born in Plymouth, Wisconsin, in 1S49, and is a son of 




<^yt-ayH/^ Vl/, ^ L^au^ 



■:-— "^yl-te-u-y l.=_y!.i,r- 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 223 

Eleazar Parmley Spear and Gulie Elma Marie (Chase) Spear. On the pater- 
nal side he is of Scotch-Irish Hneage, the family having been founded in Amer- 
ica prior to the Revolutionary war. On the maternal side he is of English and 
Dutch descent and the maternal ancestors were among the first of the Puritans 
to settle in New England. Two genealogies of the Chase family have been 
published, tracing their origin back to the time of Henry the Eighth. His 
forefathers on both sides bore arms as followers of Cromwell at the time the 
"Iron Chancellor" attempted to establish a Republican rule in England. 
Through five generations the family has been represented in the military 
service of the countr}^ when the United States has become involved in war. 
This history for patriotism and loyalty is one that the family have every 
reason to be proud of. 

In early manhood Mr. Spear determined to make the practice of law his 
life work, and after completing his literary education began studying for the 
bar and was admitted to practice in Ellsworth, Wisconsin, in 1873. Be- 
lieving that he would have better opportunities in the west, he sought a home 
in Dakota in 1880, and there resided for seven years, after which time he 
came to Seattle in 1887. Time has proved the wisdom of this step, for here 
he has found business opportunities and has molded conditions until they have 
ser\^ed his ends. He has been largely engaged in commercial pursuits and 
in mining, and through the development of the rich mineral resources of this 
portion of the countr}' he has attained a splendid fortune. He has, moreover, 
gained a business reputation that is unassailable — one which any man might 
be proud to possess. He has ever made it a rule to meet an engagement and 
fulfill the terms of a contract and to conduct all of his transactions along 
the strictest lines of commercial ethics. 

For many years Mr. Spear served in the National Guards of Wash- 
ington, rising to the rank of lieutenant-colonel. He was also a member of 
the Independent Battalion of Washington Volunteers during the Spanish- 
American war. A man of broad humanitarian principles, with deep interest 
in the race, he has ever felt attracted to any movement for the benefit of man- 
kind, especially along educational lines which augment the powers of the 
individual. Since the late war with Spain and the acquirement of colonial 
possessions, Mr. Spear's attention has been directed toward the people of 
the Philippines with deep interest and sympathy. He now has in contempla- 
tion the founding of an industrial school on the island of Luzon, patterning 
it somewhat after the school established by Booker T. Washington, at Tuske- 
gee, Alabama, and if the conditions are favorable he intends to secure a site 
about the beginning of the year 1905, so that the buildings may be erected and 



224 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

the school in operation by the year 1910. In the Post IntelHgencer, of Seat- 
tle, appeared an article which explains his project. It was headed: "Cash 
award of twenty-five dollars offered to State University students;" and it 
read as follows: "A wealthy philanthropist who is interested in the estab- 
lishment of an industrial school on the Island of Luzon, Philippine Islands, 
has deposited with Rev. T. C. W'iswell twenty-five dollars, to be paid as a 
cash prize to the student of the State University who shall write the best 
essay or article upon the establishment of an industrial school in the Philip- 
pines, the name of the school to be 'Luzon Industrial School.' The subject 
to be divided into five subdivisions, as follows : First. — Location and site. 
Second. — Buildings, Apparatus and Machinery. Third. — Faculty and Cur- 
riculum. Fourth. — Government and Control. Fifth. — Support. The pro- 
moters of the school are considering the matter of having it imder the con- 
trol of some religious denomination for the present, and eventually turning 
it over to the future state of Luzon. The site and building fund are to be 
provided by the promoters, but the permanent support of the school must be 
provided in some other way. The following have been asked to act as a 
committee to pass upon the articles written and award the prize : Griffith 
Davis, Chairman; Michael Philips, John W. Pratt, Z. B. Rawson and T. C. 
Wiswell. All students of the University of Washington are eligible to com- 
pete for the prize. The articles when prepared should be mailed to Rev. 
T. C. Wiswell, L^niversity Station, Seattle, on or before June i, 1902." 

Mr. Spear has been twice married, and has three children : Leonard 
P., the eldest son, served with distinction in the First Regiment of Wash- 
ington Volunteers, in the Spanish-American war and in the Philippine insur- 
rection, and upon his return from the Philippines he was promoted to the rank 
of first lieutenant in the National Guard of Wahsington. He is married 
and is now twent)'-two years of age. Blanche E., aged twenty-four, and 
Frank W., a little lad of nine years, complete the family. The two eldest 
children, Henry P. and Maude Marie, both died when twenty-one years of age. 
The Li:zon Industrial School will be erected as a memorial to them, for both 
were intensely interested in educational and reform work of all kinds in- 
tended to better the condition of mankind. The family home is a beautiful 
one, erected in Ravenna, a northern suburb of Seattle. In national politics 
Mr. Spear has always been Republican, and, although not taking any active 
part in political affairs, has always favored reform measures. Among the 
reforms favored by him may be mentioned : First. — The Australian Bal- 
lot. Second. — Primary Election Law. Third. — Torren's Land System of 
Registration. Fourth. — T\Ierit System in Civil Service. Fifth. — Munici- 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 225 

pal ownership of Lights and Telephones, and Government ownership of Tele- 
graph Lines, Railways and Mines. Sixth. — Old Age Pensions to all em- 
ployes of governmait and corporation. Seventh. — Army reform and the 
complete breaking down of the social distinction between commissioned of- 
ficers and enlisted men; the employment of the military forces of the United 
States in internal improvements; the building of roads, canals, etc. Last, 
but not least, Mr. Spear favors the settlement of international disputes by 
arbitration, and takes an active interest in everything tending to that end. 

While Mr. Spear has attained a fortune which classes him among the 
most wealthy residents of the northwest, his success has been so worthily 
won and used that the most envious could hardly envy him his prosperity. 
Charitable and benevolent, he has given freely of his means in support of 
worthy charity, but one of his great qualities lies in his encouragement and 
material assistance to those who were willing to help themselves. Indis- 
criminate giving often fosters idleness and vagrancy on the part of the re- 
cipients, but aid given to those who are anxious to make the most of their 
opportunities will develop self-reliance and honorable business men who be- 
come the bulwarks of the nation. 

JOHN HARTE McGRAW. 

An enumeration of the men of the present generation who have won pub- 
lic recognition for themselves and at the same time have honored the state to 
which they belong would be incomplete were there failure to make promi- 
nent reference to the gentleman whose name is mentioned above. He holds, 
precedence as a most capable and far-sighted business man, as a statesman of 
broad understanding of the issues of the day and as one who occupied a most 
unique and trying position during one of the most exciting periods in the 
history of Seattle, in which connection he bore himself with such dignity as 
to gain the respect of all true-minded men. He has been and is distinctively 
a man of affairs and one who has wielded a wide influence. A strong men- 
tality, an invincible courage, a most determined individuality have so en- 
tered into his character as to render him a natural leader of men and a direc- 
tor of public opinion. The highest official honors w'ithin the gift of the 
people of his state have been conferred upon him and his career illustrates 
clearly the recognition that America accords to true worth. 

The width of the continent separates Governor McGraw from his birth- 
place, for he is a native of Penobscot county, Maine, born October 4, 1850. 
He is descended from Irish ancestrA% and his parents, Daniel and Catherine 



226 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

(Harte) AIcGraw, were both natives of the Emerald Isle, whence they 
crossed the Atlantic to New York in 1848. They took up their abode, how- 
ever, in Penobscot county, Maine, and there the father engaged in the lumber 
business until 185 1, when he was accidentally drowned. He was a man of 
industry and marked probity of character, and his loss to his wife and three 
children was very great. His widow afterward married again and in 1890 
departed this life. Our subject and a brother in Maine are now the only 
surviving members of the family. 

In the schools of the Pine Tree state John H. jMcGraw obtained but a 
limited education, for not wishing to remain at home with his mother and 
stepfather, he obtained the former's consent and left home, from which time 
forward he was dependent upon his own resources for a livelihood. As soon 
as he was large enough he obtained a position in a store and rapidly acquired 
a knowledge of merchandising, becoming a most successful salesman as the 
result of his obliging manner and his reliability. He saved his earnings, and, 
at length, as the result of his industry and economy, he started in business on 
his own account. 

Attracted by the opportunities of the west, in 1876 he crossed the con- 
tinent to San Francisco, where he arrived in July, and a little later in the 
same year he came to Seattle, reaching his destination on the 28th of De- 
cember, 1876, so that for more than a quarter of a caitury he has resided 
here. The first business position which he occupied here was a clerkship in 
the Occidental Hotel, and later he conducted a small hotel on his own ac- 
count, which some time afterward was destroyed by fire. Thus he was not 
only deprived of his business but of all he had saved through former toil. 
Many misfortunes had he encountered up to this time in spite of his reso- 
lution and perseverance, and now, in order to make a living, he sought a 
position on the police force, which then numbered four members. This 
seemed to him a very dark hour in his history, but it proved to be the hour 
before the dawning of a brighter day. It has ever been his habit to do well 
whatever he undertakes and his efficiency as a police officer attracted the 
attention of his fellow citizens, who, recognizing his ability, elected him city 
marshal after he had served on the police force for three years. He was 
elected on the Republican ticket and the city council also made him chief of 
police. In these positions his popularity as a citizen and officer continued 
to grow, and a year later he was nominated by his party as its candidate for 
sheriff of the county of King to fill an unexpired term. He was elected and 
twice re-elected to the same office, and it was during his third term that the 
anti-Chinese trouble began. A serious conflict was threatened between the 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 227 

law-abiding and law-defying- citizens, but it soon became known that Sheriff 
ilcGraw would uphold law and order, no matter what it might cost him 
personally, and by his tact and capable management the trouble and conflict 
were averted, but notwithstanding the commendable course taken by him, it 
seriously detracted from his popularity, arousing the opposition of those who 
sympathized with the lawless element and when he was nominated for re- 
election in 1 886 he was defeated, together with the others on the ticket. 

While serving as policeman, marshal and sheriff Mr. McGraw had be- 
come largely conversant with law, and after his retirement from office began 
its study, successfully passed an examination and was admitted to the bar. 
Soon afterward he became a partner of Judge Roger S. Green and Judge 
C. H. Hanford, both eminent jurists, and not long afterward Joseph Mc- 
Naught was taken into the flrm, which then became Green, Hanford, Mc- 
Naught & McGraw. Its reputation was that of being one of the strongest 
law firms in the entire state, and thus Governor McGraw entered upon a 
successful and enviable professional career, but his popularity with his party 
was not at an end, and in 1888 he was prevailed upon to again become a 
candidate for sheriff, his supporters urging that it would be \vell for him to 
accept the nomination in order that the people of the county might have the 
chance to show that in the opportunity for calm judgment which had come 
they approved his course in connection with the anti-Chinese riots, which by 
his former defeat they had seemed to condemn. Thus it was that he again 
became a candidate and was elected by an overwhelming majority. He filled 
the office with marked ability and to the fullest satisfaction of all concerned, 
but in 1890 positively declined to accept the nomination again, retiring from 
the office in order to give his attention to the business of the First National 
Bank, of which he had been elected president some time before and in which 
capacity he sensed for seven years. 

Mr. McGraw was then chosen by his party to be its standard bearer in 
the state and by popular ballot was elected to the high office of governor, in 
which he served most faithfully from January, 1893, until Januar)% 1897, 
reflecting credit upon the state of his adoption and adding an untarnished 
page to its poHtical history. At the close of his administration the notices of 
the press were most favorable and commendatory concerning the work he 
had accomplished in the gubernatorial chair and the dignity and ability with 
which he sustained the honors of the office. One journal said : "It is to the 
lasting credit of the ex-governor that general public sentiment approves his 
administration as honest, faithful, zealous and conspicuously business-like. 
He has been the tool of no combination, but has preserved clear-sighted mas- 



328 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

tery of his own convictions at all times. His state papers have been models 
ot clearness and directness and show a mind well stocked and well balanced. 
American 'gximption' pervades these papers and no lover of the state will 
ever turn from their perusal with lessened respect for their distinguished 
author." A paper of the opposition party said: "He is a growing man; 
has studied and worked hard to make himself competent to discharge the 
duties devolving upon him, and his administration has been creditable to 
himself and party." Since his retirement from office he has been interested 
in mining on the Yukon river in Alaska, and is \ery extensively engaged in 
real-estate transactions in that distant territory. 

In 1874 Mr. McGraw was married in Maine to Miss May L. Kelly, a 
nati\'e of the Pine Tree state and a representative of an old New England 
family. Two children have been born to them : Kate Edna, now the wife 
of Fred H. Baxter, of Seattle, and Mark Thomas, who is now engaged in 
mining in Alaska. 

The Governor is a member of the Masonic fraternity, in which he has 
taken the degrees of both the York and Scottish rites, attaining the thirty- 
second degree of the latter. His is in many respects a remarkable history. 
With very limited advantages in his boyhood he started out in his early youth 
to fight life's battles, and has certainly come off conqueror in the strife. He 
is a gifted man who has developed his latent powers by the faithful and con- 
scientious performance of every duty, whether humble or great. In manner 
he is courteous, kindly and approachable and his friendship, which is highly 
prized by all who know him, can be won by true merit. Fearless in conduct 
and stainless in reputation, he stands out conspicuously as one of the strong- 
est and most distinguihed residents of the state. 

MATTHEW DOW. 

Mattliew Dow, one of the most prominent and successful contractors and 
builders of Seattle, w-ith ofifice at No. 45 Colman Block, is a worthy repre- 
sentative of the land to which he owes his birth — Scotland. Thoroughly 
imbued with the strong religious ideas as held by the Scottish people, he is 
a man not to be swerved from principles which he believes to be right, and 
in all his dealings of both a business and political nature he has strictly ad- 
hered to those principles, even when they have worked to his immediate per- 
sonal detriment. In the long run this characteristic has made him thor- 
oughly appreciated by those who at the time were thwarted by his rugged 
honesty. His life has been a verj^ eventful one. but even when threatened 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 229 

by death he was not to be moved from the path which he beheved to be right. 

Mr. Dow was born on the 29th of July, 1849, seven miles south of 
Glasgow, Scotland, and is the oldest of the thirteen children in the family of 
Andrew and Maggie (Steel) Dow. In his native land the father followed 
fanning, and contmued to follow that occupation to some extent after com- 
ing to America, having emigrated to this country about four years after our 
subject sought a home here. He was the first man to raise Irish potatoes 
in Texas. During his residence m the United States he practically lived re- 
tired most of the time, and spent his last days in Seattle, Washington, where 
he died at the ripe old age of eighty-three years. He was a strong adherent 
of the Presbyterian church, in which his father, Andrew Dow, Sr., had served 
as a ruling elder for many years. 

In the schools of his native land Matthew Dow acquired his literary educa- 
tion, and in that country also learned the builder's trade, which he followed 
there until twenty-four years of age. At that time he came to the new world, 
and after spending about two years and a half in Lexington, Kentucky, went 
to Fort Worth, Texas, where he did considerable building. There he was 
joined by his brother a year later, and together they went to Belton, Bell 
county, Texas, which was then about forty miles from any railroad. They 
soon secured a good trade in their line of business and erected buildings for 
the most prominent people in the place. When the Santa Fe Railroad reached 
the place an era of progress was inaugurated. Mr. Dow built the court 
house, jail and most all of the better buildings and residences there. He 
leased the city water works and operated them at a good profit for three and. 
a half years. An offer was made the city that if they would donate ten acres 
of land within the corporate limits and give thirty thousand dollars the Boyler 
Female College would be moved there. Mr. Dow was chosen to draw up the 
plans, and after visiting the different institutions in the state he made suitable 
plans which were accepted and the college built there. He accepted no pay 
for this work, but the corner stone, which has his name as architect and 
superintendent inscribed upon it, is a lasting monument to the good work he 
did. To show their appreciation the institute offered him five scholarships 
for his two daughters, but he would not accept that, though they attended 
the college while residing there. After thirteen and a half years spent at 
Belton, and having earned the esteem of all citizens, he decided to come 
north, and in 1889, realizing the splendid building prospects in Seattle, he 
came to this place and since that time has been a prominent factor in thQ 
development of the city. He erected the Pacific building, the Victoria Ho- 
tel, the Seattle Athletic Club house, the one-story block opposite the Rialto, 



230 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

and has done all the work for the Great Northern in the building line, includ- 
ing the stores on Jackson street and many other buildings of a business 
character. In Ballard, where he made his home until 1902, Mr. Dow erected 
the Methodist and Baptist churches, his own building at the corner of Second 
and Broadway and other brick business blocks there. In 1901 he built his 
fine residence on Pontius avenue, Seattle, where he is now living. 

Air. Dow has been twice married, having before leaving Scotland wedded 
Miss Maggie IMacGregor, and to them were born four children, two sons 
and two daughters, but the eldest died at the age of eight months. Those 
living are: Jeanie, now the wife of John Kyle, a grocer of Ballard; Alex, 
who married Mamie Allord and resides in Interbay; and Maggie, wife of 
Fritz Herbert Leather, who is the promoter of newspapers published in Japan 
and America. The mother of these children died after the removal of the 
family to Seattle, and in January, 1901, Mr. Dow married her half sister, 
Agnes Smith. 

Mr. Dow is a member of the Presbyterian church and is connected with 
with the Ancient Order of United Workmen. The Republican party usually 
finds in him a stanch supporter of its principles, but he is somewhat inde- 
pendent in politics, preferring to give his support to the men whom he be- 
lieves best qualified for office, regardless of party lines. While a resident 
of Ballard he served as mayor of the city one term and refused a re-election. 
During his term a special election was held and the town bonded for forty- 
five thousand dollars. The water works were also put in and he vetoed a 
bill for the purchase of a plant, by which the city was saved a large sum of 
money. Never were the reins of city government in more capable hands, 
for he is a progressive man, pre-eminently public-spirited, and all that per- 
tains to the public welfare receives his hearty endorsement. He also served 
as a member of the city council, and his various official duties have been dis- 
charged with a promptness and fidelity worthy of the highest commendation. 

WILLIAM E. BOONE. 

In past ages the history of a country was the record of wars and con- 
quests ; to-day it is the record of commercial activity, and those whose names 
are foremost in its annals are the leaders in business circles. The con- 
quests now made are those of mind over matter, not man over man, and the 
victor is he who can successfully establish, control and operate extensive 
commercial interests. William E. Boone is one of the strong and influential 
men whose lives have become an essential part of the history of Seattle 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 231 

and of the northwest. Tireless energy, keen perception, honesty of pur- 
pose, genius for devising and executing the right thing at the right time, 
joined to every-day common sense, guided by great will power, are the 
chief characteristics of the man. Connected with building mterests he has 
contributed in very large measure to the substantial improvement of Seattle, 
is numbered among its pioneer architects and builders and in many of the 
finest structures of the city are seen the evidences of his handiwork. 

In a little log school house in his native state Mr. Boone pursued his 
education. He remained at home until his eighteenth jyear and devoted 
three years to mastering the carpenter's trade. He then went west to Chi- 
cago, where he entered the service of the Central Railway Company, 
whose line was in process of construction. He was soon given charge 
of the erection of its buildings all along the road and had at times as many 
as one hundred and fifty mechanics working under his direction. He con- 
tinued with the company until the road was completed and afterward resided 
for three years in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he engaged in business 
as both an architect and builder, having recently pursued the study of archi- 
tecture. Through his own efforts he became very proficient in that line and 
while in Minneapolis he erected many of the buildings in that then rapidly 
growing city. The year 1859 witnessed his arrival on the Pacific coast. 
He made his way to San Francisco and thence to the Cariboo mines. He 
became a mine owner and operator, his possessions at times comprising five 
different mines. It was the time of the great mine excitement in California, 
and Mr. Boone made money rapidly but lost it just as rapidly. Returning 
to San Francisco, he there resumed work at his chosen vocation and was 
engaged in contracting and building for a number of years, becoming very 
prominent in that direction. He had under contract in one year over one 
million dollars worth of work. He was acknowledged the leading repre- 
sentative of his line of business in the city and many of the finest structures 
there stand as monuments to bis skill and handiwork. Among the costly 
buildings which he erected was the Institution for the Deaf, Dumb and 
Blind. 

During the Dennis Kearney excitement and the trouble which arose 
concerning the change in the state constitution, fully forty thousand people 
left San Francisco in a single year and Mr. Boone was among the number. 
He chose Seattle as the scene of his future business operations, arriving in 
what was then a city of about thirty-five hundred people. He has been 
connected with this place during the whole of its magnificent growth and 
has been deeply interested in its progress and prosperity. In the line of 



232 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

his business he has been a most important factor in its improvement and 
a large majority of its fine business houses and residences have been erected 
under his supervision. One of these is the New York building and no liner 
business block can be found on the northwest Pacific coast. He also ex- 
ecuted the plans for the building of the magnificent high school which is 
alike a credit to Seattle and to its designer. During his residence in Seattle 
all of its fine structures have been built and to his skill and enterprise are 
largely due the attractive appearance of the city to-day. He has the honor 
of being the president of the Washington State American Institute of Arch- 
itects. Mr. Boone sustains an unassailable reputation as a business man. 
Probably in no line of industrial activity is there better opportunity for 
fraud and dishonesty than in building, and the unqualified confidence of his 
fellow townsmen, which Mr. Boone enjoys, is an unmistakable evidence of 
his integrity and honesty in all business transactions. 

In 1871 was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Boone and Miss Mercy 
Slocum, of Syracuse, New York, a representative of one of the old Ameri- 
can families, and a niece of the distinguished General Slocum. Both Mr. 
and Mrs. Boone are highly respected by all who have the pleasure of their 
acquaintance. From the organization of the Republican party he has been 
one of its stalwart advocates, but has never desired or held office, content 
to give his support to the party without hope of reward. He has been a 
worthy member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows for many years 
and has filled all the offices in both the subordinate lodge and encampment. 
While residing- in Minneapolis in 1857 he joined the Masonic fraternity and 
was exalted to the sublime degree of a Master Mason, since which time he 
has filled nearly all of the ofiices in the blue lodge and is a past master. He 
has taken all of the York rite degrees, becoming a Sir Knight Templar, and 
in the Scottish rite he has attained the thirty-second degree, bedng pro- 
claimed a sublime prince of the royal secret. He has thoroughly studied 
the tenets of the craft and in his life has exemplified its beneficent principles. 
He has not only been a good Mason, but a good citizen as well. After the 
great fire of Seattle, he was made a member of the committee of five ap- 
pointed to straighten and widen the streets and the present beautiful city 
attests how well the work was accomplished. Mr. Boone stands to-day 
among the strong men of the northwest. Strong in his citizenship, strong 
in his honor and good name, the work which he has accomplished in behalf 
of the city of his adoption is of such a character that hi;; fellow towns- 
men owe to him a debt of gratitude and extend to him their unriualified 
regard. 



' SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 233 

HANS P. RUDE. 

Hans P. Rude, a member of the Seattle city council and a prominent 
merchant tailor of the city, is a native of the land of the Midnight Sun, 
his birth occurring in Norway on the 4th of March, 1861, and he is of Nor- 
wegian ancestry. His parents, Hans and Agnete (Pedersen) Rude, were 
also born in Norway, and were there reared and married. Four children 
were born to them in their native land, and there the mother died at the 
age of thirty years. In 1884 the father came to America, settling in Pierce 
county, Wisconsin, where he is still residing. He was a member of the 
Lutheran church, and was honorable and upright in all his dealings. Three 
of his children are residents of the Pacific coast, two of whom, Hans P. 
and Mathias, make their home in Seattle, and Martenas is a resident of 
San Francisco, while the daughter. Miss Augusta, resides in Alinneapolis. 

Hans Peter Rude received his education and learned the tailor's trade 
in the land of his nativity, and when but fifteen years of age he left the 
parental roof to make his own way in the world. He learned his trade in 
Christiana, and in 1881 came by way of Oueljec to the United States, locat- 
ing first in Chicago, from whence he continued his westward journey to 
Red Wing, ^linnesota, where he lived three years, engaged part of the time 
in work at his trade, after which he went to Minneapolis. He came to this 
country a poor boy, a stranger in a strange land, and he was obliged to 
earn the money to pay for his passage after his arrival here. He soon began 
j.ttending a night school, and in a short time became well informed con- 
cerning the laws and business customs of this country'. Coming to Seattle 
in February, 1891, he was here employed as a cutter until 1894, when he 
opened business on his own account, and since that time has been numbered 
among the leading business men of the city, progressive, enterprising and 
persevering. Such qualities always win success, sooner or later, and to 
^Ir. Rude they have brought a handsome competence as a reward of his 
well directed efforts. Since becoming a citizen of the United States he has 
studied closely the issues and questions of the day, and as a result he has 
allied himself with the Republican party, to which he gives an intelligent 
and loyal support. He had been a resident of Seattle but five years when, 
in 1896, he became the choice of his party for the oflice of city councilman, 
to which he was re-elected two years later, running against a strong fusion 
of the opposing parties. His second election demonstrates the fact that he 
had proved himself a useful and honorable menil)er of the board of coun- 
cilmen. 



2 34 REPRESEXTATI\'E CITIZENS OF 

Such has been the uprightness of his character and business career that 
he was deemed eligible to become a member of the Masonic fraternity, and 
lie received the sublime degree of a Master Mason in Doric Lodge, No. 92, 
of Seattle, thereafter being advanced until he is now a Royal Arch Mason, 
a Sir Knight Templar and a member of the Mystic Shrine. He is also 
affiliated with the Elks, the Knights of Pythias and other fraternities. Mr. 
Rude is a life member of the Alaska Geographical Society. In 1882 Mr. 
Rude was united in marriage to Miss Lena Sophia Martenson, also a native 
of Norway, and the children resulting from their union are Henry Mc- 
Clair, George Albert, Lillie Palma and Morris Oscar. The family are mem- 
bers of the Lutheran church, and thej' share in the high regard of a large 
circle of friends. 

WILLL\M R. BALLARD. 

It is a well attested maxim that the greatness of the state lies nut in 
its machinery of government, nor even in its institutions, but in the sterling 
qualities of its individual citizens, in their capacity for high and unselfish 
■effort and their devotion to the public good. Rising above the heads of the 
mass there has always been a series of individuals, distinguished beyond 
others, who by reason of their pronounced ability and forceful personality 
liave always commanded the respect of their fellow men and who have 
revealed to the world those two resplendent virtues of a lordly race, per- 
severance in purpose and a directing spirit which ne\'er fails. Of this class 
William Rankin Ballard stands as an excellent illustration. The goal to- 
ward which he has hastened during his many years of toil and endeavor is 
that which is attained only by such as have by patriotism rnd wise counsel 
given the world an impetus toward the good, such have gained the right 
and title to have their names enduringly inscribed on the bright pages of 
history. 

William R. Ballard has been a resident of Washington for thirty-seven 
3'ears and while he has not sought prominence in the line of political pre- 
ferment no man in Seattle has done more to advance the city's welfare 
through the establishment of important industrial and commercial interests 
that have contributed largely to the public good than Mr. Ballard. He 
%vas born in Richland county. Ohio, on the 12th of August, 1S47. and is 
descended from English ancestry who became early settlers of New Eng- 
land and for many years were respected and influential residents of New 
Hampshire. In that state his father. Dr. Levi Ballard, was bom, his birth- 



SEATTLE AND KIXG COUNTY. 235 

place being tlie town of Hillsboro, Hillsboro county, and tbe date Decem- 
ber 21, 1815. Removing from the old Granite state to New Jersey he there 
began reading medicine and later was graduated in the Cleveland IMedical 
College, of Cleveland, Ohio, with the class of 1844. He was married that 
A^ear in Richland county, Ohio, to Miss Phoebe A. McConnell and there they 
began their domestic life, the Doctor engaging in the practice of medicine. In 
1850 he was called upon to mourn the loss of his wife, who died leaving 
two sons, Irving, who became an attorney of King county, Washington, 
and died in 1880, and William Rankin. 

In 1852 the father crossed the plains to California, where he remained 
for only a few months and then returned to the east by way of the Isthmus 
route. In 1855 he once more crossed the plains, locating in Oregon, and 
was the surgeon of a regiment of volunteers during the Indian war. In 
1857 he again returned to the east by way of the Isthmus of Panama and 
was married to Miss I\Iary E. Condit. Accompanied by his wife and two 
sons, in 185S he made his way to Oregon and practiced his profession 
in Roseburg until 1865, at which time he removed to Auburn. Wash- 
ington, where he retired from his profession, spending his last days in the 
enjoyment of a well earned rest. He departed this life on the 12th of Jan- 
uary, 1897, at the age of eighty-two years, and thus closed a career that 
was marked by honor, integrity and usefulness. In politics he was a Re- 
publican and in religious faith a Presbyterian. He was a conscientious and 
faithful practitioner and would always respond to the call of the sick and 
suffering at no matter what personal sacrifices, never stopping to tiuestion 
whether his labors would ever be recompensed by pecuniary remuneration. 
There were five children by his second marriage and his widow still sur- 
vives him. 

W'illiam Rankin Ballard was a youth of eleven years when his father 
crossed the plains with his family and since that time he has been identified 
with the development of the northwest. His preliminary education was 
supplemented by study in the academy at Wilber, Oregon, and in the Wash- 
ington State University. He acquired a good knowledge of ci\'il engineer- 
ing and began life on his own account in that line of activity. He secure"'! 
various government contracts for surveying public lands, among which was 
the Yakima Indian reservation, the largest government surveying contract 
in the state, requiring three years for its completion. Some complications 
arose in regard to receiving his pay and in 1875 he found it necessary to 
go to Washington to attend to that and other business. In the summer 
of 1876 he accepted tlie position of mate on the .steamer Zejihyr. which 



236 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

was owned Ijy his brother and phed between Olympia and Seattle. In 1877 
he was made captain and in 1881 became part owner of the vessel, his part- 
ners being George Harris and John Leary. In 1886 he became sole owner 
and continued in command until 1887, when he sold his ship. Under Cap- 
tain Ballard's management she was very popular and made larger earnings 
than any other local steamer then plying on the Sound. 

While engaged in conducting the trips of this steamer Captain Ballard 
became convinced that Seattle had a brilliant future before it and began to 
invest in city property. In 1883, in partnership with Judge Thomas Burk 
and John Leary, he purchased seven hundred acres of land on Salmon Bay, 
upon which is now located the prosperous city of Ballard, a suburb of Seattle, 
containing five thousand and four hundred inhabitants. His property there 
has been subdivided and from time to time he has sold lots on which he has 
realized very largely, as the land was purchased for only a few dollars per 
acre and is now worth as many thousands. Captain Ballard had the man- 
agement of his company's affairs in the handling of the property and to 
him belongs great credit for the success which has attended the enterprise 
and for the large fortunes resulting therefrom. He has also been closely 
associated with the financial circles of the city, being one of the organizers 
of the Seattle National Bank, which was established in 1890 with a capital 
stock of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. He was elected its vice- 
president and his business ability and wise counsel were important factors 
m its success. The company erected a si.x-story bank building, one of the 
finest of its kind in the entire northwest. For three years he was manager of 
die bank, during which time it was attended with most gratifying success. 
He was one of the organizers of the Seattle Savings Bank, of which he 
remained president until 1897, and also president of the First National 
Bank of Water\'ille, Washington, and one of the directors of the North 
End Bank of Seattle and the Fairhaven National Bank. In the organiza- 
tion of the West Street and North End Electric Railway Company he was 
prominent, becoming one of the heavy stockholders of the company and 
also its vice-president. He was also a large stockholder and director in 
the Terminal Railway & Elevator Company and thus it can be seen that 
he has done his full share in the improvement and upbuilding of the city 
through the establishment of many extensive business concerns which have 
been of the greatest value in promoting material progress and prosperity. 
He has always had great faith in the future of Seattle and believes it is 
destined to attain still greater prominence as a metropolis of the northwest. 
He is now president of the Mutual Land Company of the city and is push- 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 237 

ing its interests. He is likewise a member of the Chamber of Commerce 
and Lake Washington canal committee and a trustee of Whitworth College 
of Tacoma. The influence of such a life cannot be measured but all familiar 
with the history of Seattle acknowledge the city's indebtedness to his efforts. 
Li 1882 was celebrated the marriage of Captain Ballard and Miss Es- 
telle Thorndyke, a native of Rockland, Maine, and they had five children, 
but four died in infancy, the surviving son being Stanley. The best homes 
of the city are open for their reception and they are leading representati-. es 
of the social circles of Seattle. Mr. Ballard belongs to the First Presby- 
terian church of Seattle, and for many years has been one of its elders. He 
was made a Mason in St. John's Lodge, F. & A. M., of Seattle, in 1871. 
and has always been a worthy exemplar of the teachings of the craft. His 
is a well rounded character in which due attention has been given to phy- 
sical, mental and moral development, as well as to business, social and public 
affairs. He stands out conspicuously among the leading spirits to whom 
Seattle owes her upbuilding, her progress and substantial impro^•ement and 
his name is inseparably linked with her history. 

THOMAS H. CANN. 

The name of Judge Thomas H. Cann ranks high among his profes- 
sional' brethren of the King county bar and we are pleased to present to 
his numerous friends and acquaintances this sketch of his useful life. The 
Judge is a native of the Prairie state, his birth having occurred in St. Clair 
county, Illinois, on the i8th of July, 1833, and he is of Scotch-Irish descent. 
His ancestors were among the early settlers of Virginia, and his grandfather, 
William Cann, served under General Washington throughout the struggle 
for independence. He was one of the early pioneers of Kentucky, and lived 
to the extreme old age of one hundred and six years, but during the last 
seven years of his life he w^as totally blind. The father of our subject, 
James Cann, w^as born in Hart county, Kaitucky, in 1792, and was there 
married to Nancy Miller, a native also of that commonwealth, where her 
people were among the early pioneers. Unto this worthy couple were horn 
nine children, six sons and three daughters, but of this familv only two 
sons are now living, the brother of our suliject being John B. Cann. 

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Cann removed to Indiana, settling 
on the Wabash river, where they were among the early settlers, but in 1820 
they left that state for St. Clair county, Illinois, taking up their abode near 
where Belle\-ille now stands. In that earlv dav Chicago, now the second citv 



238 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZEXS OF 

in size in tlie United States, had not even Ijeen begun. During the period of 
the Ci\ii war dieir son, John B., enlisted for service in tlie Union Army, 
joining the Sixteenth Army Corps, and he served under General A. J- Smith 
and General Buell. During his services he was promoted from the ranks 
to a captaincy, and during the battle of Shiloh he was wounded. His 
younger brother, Elias Cann, was also a volunteer in the service of his 
country, and lost his life at the battle of Wilson Creek. The father of this 
family was called to his final rest at the age of fifty-six years, his death result- 
mg from an accident, passing away in the faith of the Alethodist church, of 
which he was one of the early members and for a time a local minister. By 
his teachings and example he led many to the higher life, and as a minister he 
\vas ranked with the Rev. Peter Cartwright and other noted divines of that 
day. 

Thomas H. Cann received his early education in the public sc'.iools of hi.s 
nati\-e locality. In 1854, after reaching his twentieth year, he crossed the 
plains to California, and after his arrival on the Pacific coast he mined at 
Hangtown, now Placerville, Coloma, Shasta and Yreka, going from one min- 
ing excitement to another, and in 1861 he went to Orofino, now in Idaho, but 
during his mining experience he met with only moderate. success. At the last 
named place he was made a deputy sherifY, but after a year's service therein 
he resigned the position to enter the employ of Wells, Fargo & Company, car- 
rying their express from the mines to Lewiston, making the journey princi- 
pally on horseback, but when the snow was very deep he packed the express 
on snow-shoes. While thus engaged the exposure during the winter was 
very severe, the danger from road agents was imminent and it was a position 
which only a man of heroism would have undertaken. Continuing in that 
ca])acity for a year, he was then employed on the company's steamboats on the 
Snake and Columbia rivers, for which he received an excellent salary and 
thus continued until 1870. In that year he received from the governor the 
appointment of Oregon State land commissioner, which office he filled with 
credit for eight years. During this time he also read law and was admitted 
to the l)ar. beginning the practice of his chosen profession at Salem, Oregon. 
After a residence in that city of ten years he removed to Seattle. In 1864, 
he had been married at Portland, Oregon, to Miss Louisa A. Gephart, a 
native of Hamburg. Germany. On his arrival in this city Mr. Cann's family 
consisted of his wife and three children: Adoline. at home; Thomas H.. a 
lawyer by profession and now employed as master of a steamship ; and Louisa, 
the wife of Professor Raunam, professor of mathematics in the Washington 
State Universitv. 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 2J9 

When the family took up their abode in Seattle this new thriving city 
was but a mere hamlet, but Mr. Cann immediaely opened an office for the 
practice of his profession, in which he continued with steadily increasing suc- 
cess for a year. He was then appointed to the important office of police 
judge, serving in that capacity for four years, and on the expiration of that 
period he again resumed the private practice of the law. In 1898 he was 
again called to public life, this time being elected to the office of justice 
of the peace and shortly afterward he was appointed •police judge by 
Mayor Humes. Since 1892 he has served as police judge, which position he 
has filled to the entire satisfaction of all concerned. He is recognized as a 
man of exceptional attainments, and in all the positions which he has been 
called upon to fill he has been true to himself and to the duties and obligations 
resting upon him. 

To Mr. Cann is accorded the honor of being one of the oldest Masons on 
the Pacific coast, having been made a Master Mason at The Dalles, in 1863, 
and in the same year he received the Royal Arch degree. He was a charter 
member of the first Scottish Rite body that met in the west, and he has re- 
ceived all the degrees in Scottish Rite Masonry up to and including the thirty- 
second degree. In 1877 he became a member of the Ancient Order of United 
Workmen at Salem, Oregon, and he is a charter member of the second body 
of that fraternity organized in the state, while at the present time he is a mem- 
ber of the committee on laws in the grand lodge of the state of Washington. 
Since the organization of the Republican party he has been an ardent sup- 
porter of its principles, his first presidential vote being cast for John C. Fre- 
mont in 1856, and he has ever been an active and efficient worker in the ranks. 
In 1884 Mr. Cann erected his present beautiful and commodious home, where 
his attractive lawn, one hundred and twenty feet square, is cared for by him- 
self and family, and they have planted many beautiful flowers, shrubs and fruit 
irees. In this charming home Mr. and Mrs. Cann expect to spend the re- 
mainder of their days, surrounded by the comforts and luxuries which former 
labor has brought to them. In religious faith he is a member of the Methodist 
church, while his wife and daughter are members of St. Mark's Episcopal 
church. The parents are also members of the Pioneer Society. He is always 
ready to assist in any movement which has for its object the improvement and 
upbuilding of the city of his choice, and he is justly called the "father of the 
police court of Seattle." 

A leading member of the bar in speaking of Judge Cann said : " T con- 
sider him one of the most actix'e, thorough and successful members of the 
profession. During his term of service on the bench here he made himself a 



240 REPRESEXTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

terror to tlie evil doers, and did much to improve the moral tone cf the com- 
munity. He had to a remarkable degree that rare ability for detecting truth 
from falsehood, for unearthing fraud and hypocrisy, which is so necessary 
hi a committing magistrate. In his practice he has received a large clientage, 
^nd is intrusted with many important interests. He has the unbounded con- 
fidence of his clients, and is, I believe, in the enjoyment of as remunerative 
])ractice as any lawyer in Seattle." 
4 

ELTOX E. AIXSWORTH. 

Elton E. Ainsworth, general manager of the Pacific Packing & Naviga- 
tion Company, of Seattle, is a striking example of what may be accom])!ished 
in the rapidly developing section of the country when determined perseverance 
is seconded by native ability. His rise in about twelve years to the position 
which he now occupies is indicative of his especial fitness for the work to which 
lie is devoting his energies. Under his capable direction the business of the 
company has grown to mammoth proportions, so that the enterprise is one 
of the most important contributing' to the commercial activity and conse- 
quent prosperity of the northwest. 

Mr. Ainsworth is a native of New '^"ork, his birth having occurred at 
Cape Vincent, Jefferson county, on the 24th of May, 1865. He is of English 
ancestry. His father, Willard Ainsworth, was born in Cape Vincent, and 
in early life followed agricultural pursuits, but later turned his attention to 
merchandising, carrying on business successfully along that line until about 
fifteen years ago, since which time he has lived retired. He was also identi- 
fied with the fishing industries of the country, having been president of the 
Lake Ontario Fish Company. Politically he has been interested in the suc- 
cess of the Republican party from its organization, but the honors and emolu- 
ments of ofiice have had no attraction for liim. An active member of the 
Presbyterian church, he has filled offices in the organization with whicli he 
is identified, and his influence has ever l)een on the side of the right, the true 
and the beautiful. He wedded Mary Flerrick and they are the i)arents of six 
children, but our subject is the only one living in the west. 

During the summer months, while not attending school, Elton Ains- 
worth gained a knowledge of the fish business under his father's direction, 
and this practical experience acquired in his youth well qualified him for the 
work which he undertook in later years. \\ hen he reached the age of twenty 
years he went to Detroit, Michigan, and for a year and a half was con- 
nected with the Robinson P)rothcrs Lumber Cnmixnny, but on the ex])iration 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 241 

of that period he determined to go to the Pacific coast. He first made his 
way to San Diego, Cahfornia, but finding that business was not very active 
at that point he decided to make his way to the Puget Sound country, and 
purchased a ticket to Tacoma, but when the boat upon which he had taken 
passage stopped at Seattle he went ashore and was so pleased with the city 
and its prospects that he immediately determined to remain, and lost no time 
in having his baggage transferred from the boat to the town, and thus, in 
August. 1888, took up his residence here. 

It was then the custom for nearly e\eryone who came to this locality to 
take a claim, and Mr. Ainsworth went to the Olympic Mountains and secured 
a tract of land of one hundred and sixty acres on Lake Cushman, where he 
remained for six months. He then sold his claim and returned to the city, 
where, in connection with Arthur G. Dunn, he becam.e engaged in the fish 
business at the corner of Second avenue and Pike street. Since that time 
the partnership has existed and the business has constantly increased. They 
soon extended the field of their operations to the wholesale canning busi- 
ness. In 1896 they built a cannery at the foot of Pike street, and in 1898 
another at Blaine, Washington. In 1901 the consolidation of a number of the 
canneries on Puget Sound and in Alaska was consummated and the Pacific 
Packing & Navigation Company was formed. Mr. Ainsworth taking charge 
of the affairs of the company as its general manager. The company owns 
and operates seventy-five steamers, tugs and other vessels and has several 
very large canneries on Puget Sound and twenty in Alaska, the pack averag- 
ing from one million and two hundred and fifty thousand to fifteen hundred 
thousand cases annually, the ])roduct being shipped to all parts of the world. 
That Mr. Ainsworth is a man of exceptional business ability and executive 
force is indicated by his capable control of the mammoth business of the 
company, requiring keen discernment, marked foresight and a genius for 
dispatch in business and for planning and executing the right thing at the 
right time. 

In August, 1894, in Victoria, British Columbia. Mr. Ainsworth was 
tinited in marriage to Miss Helen Schroeder. They lost their only son, Wil- 
lard, who died in April, 1900, at the age of three years. Their beautiful 
home, at the corner of Minor avenue and University street, was erected in 
1901, and is the center of many brilliant and pleasing social functions, par- 
ticipated in by many of the leading residents of Seattle. Mr. Ainsworth 
votes with the Republican party, is a member of the Chamber of Commerce, 
of the Ranier Culb and the Seattle Golf Club. He belongs to the group 
of distinctively representative business men who have been active in promot- 



242 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

ing and building up the chief industries of this section of the country. He 
had the sagacity and prescience to discern the eminence which the future had 
in store for this great and growing city, and acting in accordance with the 
dictates of his faith and judgment, he has garnered, in the fulhiess of time, 
the generous harvest which is the just recompense of industry, integrity and 
enterprise. 

ROBERT G. WESTER]\IAN. 

There is«io rule for achieving success, and yet in the Hfe of the successful 
man there are always lessons which might well be followed. The man who 
gains prosperity is he who can see and utilize the opportunities that come in 
his path. The essential conditions of human life are ever the same, the sur- 
roundings of individuals differ but little, and when one man passes another on 
the highway of life, reaching the goal of prosperity in advance of others who 
perhaps started out before him, it is because he has the power to use advan- 
tages which probably encompass the whole human race. To-day among the 
leading residents of Seattle stands Robert G. Westerman, who is prominently 
known throughout this locality as the president and manager of the Wester- 
man Iron Works. 

Mr. Westerman was born in the city of Coldwater, Michigan, in 1843, and 
is of Swedish ancestry, his parents, Peter and Peternella (Nystrom) Wester- 
man, having both been natives of that country. In 1841, however, they left the 
land of their birth and came to the United States, taking up their abode in 
Michigan. Three of their children remained for a time in their native land, 
but subsequently joined their parents in this countr}^ While a resident of 
Michigan the father was engaged in agricultural pursuits, but in 1849 he 
crossed the plains to California and there followed placer mining. In 1855, 
on account of the ill health of his wife, he returned with his family to Europe, 
and there she died at the age of forty-six years, but her husband reached the 
age of seventy-two years. He was reared in the Lutheran faith, but during 
his residence in America was identified with the Prebyterian church. This 
worthy couple became the parents of eleven children, but only two are now 
living, the brother of our subject being Charles Westerman, the manager of a 
railroad in Caritiba, Brazil. 

Robert G. Westerman received his early education under his mother's 
careful guidance, he having been permitted to attend school only four months 
in Sacramento, California, but by constant reading, observation and experi- 
ence he has greatlv added In his knowledge and is now a well informed man. 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 243 

When but ten years of age he began learning the blacksmith's trade under the 
direction of his uncle. In 1867 he removed to Chicago, Illinois, where for 
eleven months he was employed in the shops of the Illinois Central Railroad, 
and later worked for the Central Pacific Railroad Company in California and 
Nevada. He was also chief engineer and blacksmith for the consolidated 
Virginia Mine and was connected with other prominent mining interests. 
Subsequently Mr. Westerman went to Arizona on a mining expedition, and 
after working for a time with the Contention Mining & Mill Company he en- 
gaged in mining on his own account at Tombstone, that state, there remaining 
for a year and a half. Selling his possessions there, he went to Mexico in the 
interest of a prominent mining company, where he was engaged in erecting 
mining machinery in different places, but subsequently left that state with the 
intention of going to Alaska. He changed his plans, however, and instead 
went to the Idaho mines, at Eagle City, where he mined with excellent success 
for three years, but before leaving that place he lost his entire earnings. 
Coming thence to Seattle in 1886, he worked for wages for a year and a half, 
and in 1888, with only one forge, engaged in business for himself at the foot 
of ]\Iarion street. Under his able management the business grew rapidly, 
and in January, 1889, it being necessary for him to secure larger quarters, 
he removed to Western avenue, where he erected a commodious and substan- 
tial building, containing seven forges. This building was completed on the 
20th of May, and on the 6th of June was entirely destroyed by the terrible fire 
which visited the city, thus sweeping away in a few moments the savings of 
many years. With undaunted energy, however, he set about to retrieve his 
lost possessions and erected a shop at the corner of Fifth and Main streets. 
In a short time he was enabled to rebuild his shop on Western avenue, and 
thus he has the credit of erecting three shops in one year. As lime passed 
business grew to such proportions under his skillful direction that it again be- 
came necessaiy to secure larger quarters and he accordingly purchased the 
buildings which he now occupies. In 1898 the business was incorporated 
under the name of the Westerman Iron Works, with Mr. Westerman as 
president and A. T. Timmerman as secretary. The latter is a business man 
of ability and worth, and the two gentlemen own the entire plant. Their re- 
putation for reliability in business circles is unassailable and in all life's rela- 
tions they command the respect of those with whom they have been brought 
in contact. 

The marriage of ^Mr. Westerman was celeljrated in 1883. when Mrs. 
Hattie (Ray) Compton became his wife. She has one son by her former 
marriage, John Rav Compton. who was reared by Mr. Westerman and is still 



244 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

:: member of his household. The union of our subject and wife has also been 
blessed with one son, Frank, who is now in school. The family ccupy a 
beautiful home at 1521 Twelfth avenue, south, on Beacon Hill. Mr. Wester- 
man is a Royal Arch Mason and a stanch supporter of Republican principles. 
The most honorable business methods have ever characterized his dealings, 
his duties of citizenship are faithfully discharg-ed, and in private life he is 
known as a loyal husband, father and friend. 

ISAAC N. BIGELOW. 

Isaac N. Bigelow, one of the builders of the city of Seattle, is a native of 
King county. Nova Scotia, born on the 15th of May, 1838. He represents 
one of the oldest families of this country, tracing his ancestry back to John 
Bigelow, who emigrated from Essex county, England, to Massachusetts, in 
1630. He was a freeholder and a select man of Watertown, a member of 
the Congregational church and died on the 14th of July, 1703, at the age of 
eighty-six years. His son, Samuel Bigelow, born in Watertown, in 1653. 
was proprietor of an inn and one of the influential men of the community. He 
served as a sergeant in the militia and represented his town in the general 
court. His will bears date 1720. His son, Isaac Bigelow. born in Water- 
town in 1 691, held a commission from the governor as sergeant of the colonial 
militia and his death occurred in 1744. His son, Isaac Bigelow, Jr., the next 
in line of succession, was born in Colchester, Connecticut, on the 4th of May, 
1 71 3. and removed to Nova Scotia, wdiere he received land grants from the 
government for settling there, but later he returned to Colchester, Connecti- 
cut, and reared his. family there. He died in 1792. His son, Amasa Bigelow, 
the great-grandfather of our subject, was bom in Colchester, Connecticut, 
i" ^755> ^^'^s a ship carpenter and lost his life by accident in 1799. He mar- 
ried Roxana Cone and their son, Ebenezer Bigelow. was born in Cornwall. 
Nova Scotia, about the year 1779. The latter married Nancy Rand in 1804 
.Tnd died in i860. He was also a ship builder and became a very prominent 
representative of that department of industrial activity. His son. David 
Bigelow, the father of our subject, was born in 1813, married Martha Jane 
Weaver, and died in 1847. at the age of thirty-four years. He had learned 
the ship-builder's trade under the direction of his father, carried on a large 
and successful business and was highly esteemed by all who knew him. His 
wife departed this life in the fifty-ninth year of her age. She was the mother of 
seven children, of whom four are living, three being residents of the Pacific 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 245 

coast, namely: H. Allen of Oakland, California; Rebecca, who is living in 
Seattle; and the subject of this review. 

Isaac N. Bigelow obtained his education in the public schools of his 
native town and in early life learned the carpenter's trade. l"or a number of 
years he was engaged with his brother Benjamin in ship-building and re- 
mained in the east until 1875, at which time he came to Seattle, where he be- 
came identified with the business interests of the city as a. contractor and 
builder. His marked skill in that vocation and his honorable business meth- 
ods soon secured him an extensive patronage, whereby his labors became very 
profitable. As his financial resources increased he made extensive invest- 
ments in real estate and purchased and platted what is known as Bigelow's 
addition to the city. He also platted Bigelow's second addition and the 
Lake Union addition, all of which have become greatly improved, being trans- 
formed into residence districts of the city. Both before and since the great 
fire in Seattle in 1889 Mr. Bigelow has been extensively engaged in building 
in this city, his labor in this direction, however, being largely the improx-ement 
of his own property. He built and owned one of the largest sawmills north 
of San Francisco but later, selling his interest in the property for thirty 
thousand dollars, he invested that amount in the Seattle Dime Savings Bank, 
of which he was the president and principal stockholder for four years. At 
the expiration of that time he was obliged to suspend, but he has the gratifi- 
cation of having paid one hundred cents on the dollar. Honesty has ever 
been one of the salient features of his character and no one can say aught that 
is detrimental concerning his business life. He has erected many residences 
on his property and also built the Bigelow block on Pike street and another 
large building on Second avenue and Union streets. He is now living retired 
with a good competency and makes his home in a nice residence at No. 912 
Queen Ann avenue. He is an active and valued member of the Congrega- 
tional church, in which he is serving as a trustee and deacon and also as super- 
intendent of the Sunday-school. He takes an active and acceptable part in all 
church work and his labors in that behalf have been very effective. He has 
also contributed in large measure to the improvement and progress of Seattle 
and obtained the first street railway franchise. He also secured the paving 
of Pike street with brick and in many ways has contributed to the substantial 
improvement of the city. He is a Master Mason, having been made a mem- 
ber of the craft in Nova Scotia in 1863. 

In the same year Mr. Bigelow was married to Miss Emeline Davitlson. 
also a native of King county, with whom in youth he attended .the same 
school. Their union has been blesse<l with two sons and a daugh.ter: David 



246 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

IL., a mineral expert and assayer now in Cedoras Island, Mexico; E. Victor, 
a Congregational minister, now serving as pastor of Elliott church, in Lowell, 
Massachusetts; and Clara M., who is at home with her parents. Rev. Bige- 
low is a graduate of \Vashington University and also of Yale College and has 
taken a post-graduate course in Harvard College. Mrs. Bigelow, like her 
husband, is actively engaged in church work, and both are most highly res- 
pected by a host of friends in Seattle. His purpose has ever been commend- 
able, his actions manly, his conduct sincere and above all his life has been in- 
fluenced by a sense of conscientious obligation concerning his relations to his 
fellow men and his duties of citizenship. 

LYMAN E. KNAPP. 

Tlie profession of law, when clothed with its true dignity and purity and 
strength, must rank first among the callings of men, for law rules the uni- 
verse. The work of the legal profession is to formulate, to harmonize, to 
regulate, to adjust, to administer those rules and principles that underlie and 
permeate all government and society and to control the varied relations of 
man. As thus viewed there attaches to the legal profession a nobleness that 
cannot but be reflected in the life of the true lawyer, who, conscious of the 
greatness of his profession and honest in the pursuit of his purpose, embraces 
the richness of learning, the profoundness of wisdom and the firmness of in- 
tegrity. A prominent representative of the Washington bar is Lyman Enos 
Knapp, and he also has the honor of being the third American governor of 
Alaska. 

]\Ir. Knapp was born in Somerset, Windham county, Vermont, Novem- 
■ ber 5, 1837, and is a representative of a prominent old English family. The 
founder of the family on American soil emigrated to this country from York- 
shire, England, in 1640, and located in Brighton, Massachusetts, but later re- 
moved to Taunton, that state, and subsequently settled in Douglass, Massachu- 
setts. The great-great-grandfather of our subject, Joseph Knapp, resided in 
Taunton, and his son, Job Knapp, fought throughout the Revolutionary war, 
serving as lieutenant of a company in Colonel Reid's regiment from Doug- 
lass, Massachusetts. When the war was over he married his colonel's daught- 
ter, Ruth Reid. Their son, Cyrus Knapp, removed to Dover, Vermont, and 
there married Thankful Sterns. Their son Hiram was born in Dover, \"er- 
mont, in 1803. He married Elvira Stearns, and they continued to reside in 
Dover until just previous to our subject's birth, when they removed to Somer- 
set, Vermont. Hiram Knapp was an officer in the state militia. By his 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 247 

marriage he became the father of nine children, of whom se\en are still living. 
He passed away in 1858, at the age of fifty-six years, but his widow survived 
him many years. They were members of the Congregational church and 
were people of the highest respectability. Their son Velosco J. ivnapp is a 
resident of Anacortes, Washington, where he is serving as the postmaster, and 
lie ami our subject are the only representatives of the family on the Pacific 
coast. 

Lyman Enos Knapp received his literary education in the Burr & Burton 
Seminary and in the Middlebury College, of Vermont, graduating in the latter 
institution in 1862, and within a week after leaving school he offered his serv- 
ices to his countr)', becoming captain of Company I, Sixteenth Regiment, 
Vermont Volunteer Infantry. His regiment was first engaged in defending 
the city of \\'ashington, after which it was attached to the Army of the Poto- 
mac, and his first battle was the memorable engagement at Gettysburg, in 
which he received a flesh wound in the shoulder. He participated in all the 
battles in which the glorious Army of the Potomac took part until the sur- 
render of General Lee, when the war was o\'er and he marched with his regi- 
ment in the grand review at \\'ashington. At the battle of Spottylsvania 
Court House Mr. Knapp was a second time wounded, being struck with a 
bullet in the head on May 9, 1864, the ball cutting a furrow in hi? scalp, but 
the second day thereafter he was able to return to duty. At the battle of 
Petersburg on the 21st of April, 1865, while storming Fort Mahone, a shell 
exploded above him and a portion of it struck him just below the shoulder, 
causing a severe bruise and disabling him for a long time thereafter. Al- 
though disabled he continued with his command, and in acknowledgment 
of his distinguished service he was promoted to the rank of major, was later 
breveted lieutenant colonel and afterward received the full command. Dur- 
ing his army career Mr. Knapp participated in many of the important and 
hard-fought battles of the war, and was ever at his post of duty, faithfully anc^ 
cheerfully performing the tasks assigned to him. 

\\ hen the war was o\-er and the country no longer needed his services 
he returned to his home in Vincent, where he studied law and was admitted 
to the bar in 1876. In the meantime he had served as editor and publisher 
of the IMiddlebury Register, was also a justice of the peace, was judge of the 
municipal court of the city for twenty years, and from 1879 until 1889 was 
judge of the probate and insolvency courts. While filling the latter position he 
received a telegram from the president oflfering him the governorship of 
Alaska. He received the appointment under the administration of President 
Harrison, and, resigning his judgeship in \'ermont, he served for four j'ears 



248 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

and six months as governor of Alaska. Durmg that period lie did all in his 
power to advance the interests of that territory, having organized local mili- 
tia companies, opened new postal routes, established a territorial library 
and instituted many other valuable improvements, filling the position with the 
most marked ability and fidelity. On retiring from that position he was left 
free to return to Seattle, a course which he had long before contemplated. 
Accordingly he arriveil in this city in September, 1893, and engaged in the 
practice of law, his abilty soon winning him a distinctively representative 
clientage. He devotes his attention principally to civil practice, and is the 
attorney for several banks and many large corporations. He has also invested 
largely in city property, has erected several residences and is one of Seattle's 
most public-spirited and progressive citizens. 

The marriage of Mr. Knapp was celebrated on the 23d of January, 1865, 
when Misss Martha A. Severaner became his wife. She is a native of Mid- 
dlebury, Vermont. Unto this union have been born four children, two sons 
and two daughters: George E., a graduate of the Middlebury College; 
Frances A., the wife of Everett R. Morgan, of Seattle; Edwin L., who for 
the past four years has been an employe in the Puget Sound National Bank; 
and Mary A., at home. Mr. and Mrs. Knapp are valued members of the 
Plymouth Congregational church, of which he is one of the leaders. He is 
also a member and past commander of I\Iiller Post, G. A. R. He ranks high 
at the bar and in political circles, and Seattle numbers him among her leading 
and influential citizens. 

ROBERT ABR.\MS. 

Among those honored citizens of Seattle who are entitled to considera- 
tion as pioneers of Washington and as founders and builders of our great 
and beautiful commonwealth, a place of no secondary rank must be accorded 
the gentleman whose name initiates this paragraph, for he has maintained 
his residence in Washington for more than forty-five years, having come 
liither in 1857, when the work of development and progress had scarcely been 
inaugurated in even an incipient way. when the locality was isolated to a 
large extent, having no railroad facilities, and when it remained on the very 
frontier of civilization, the red men, in their motley garb, still disputing do- 
minion with the few and .scattered white settlers and with the beasts of the 
field. Mr. Abrams has Ijeen a witness of the transitions which have marked 
the development of the Evergreen state, has been an active participant in the 
work of advancement and is to-day one of the sterling and highly honored 




S».„ ' 




/^a-l^^J- (^^ 



OV-l^-T^-T^^ 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 249 

pioneer citizens of Seattle, wliere he is engaged in the Hvery business, hav- 
ing his place of business at 21O/ Western avenue. As before stated, he 
came to the territory of Washington in 1857, and Seattle has been continu- 
ously his home from the year 1869, when it was a straggling village of the 
most primitive sort, and he still owns land here which he purchased thirty-six 
years ago. The brave, energetic and loyal old pioneers are fast passing 
away, and it is a pleasure to yet be able to meet one of the hardy band of the 
former days, to listen to the tales of adventure and privation borne without 
flinching, and it is a duty to perpetuate their records insofar as possible, that 
future generations may have appreciation of their lives and labors when all 
shall have been summoned to that "undiscovered country from whose bourne 
no traveler returns." 

Robert Abrams comes of stanch New England stock of Scotch-Irish 
type, and he claims the old Bay state as the place of his nativity, having been 
born in Berkshire county, Massachusetts, on the 10th of December, 1836. 
His father, Richard Abrams, was a native son of the fair Emerald Isle, where 
he was reared and educated and where he became prominently identified with 
the manufacturing of the justly famed Irish linen, with which line of indus- 
try the family had been concerned for a number of generations. The products 
of the looms found their way to the United States, and the trade thus .built 
up was in a large degree responsible for the emigration of Richard Abrams 
to this country. His home was in the north of Ireland, near the line of Scot- 
land, and in the latter country was born the estimable and gentle woman who 
became his wife, her maiden name having been Elizabeth Dynes. Shortly 
after their marriage they came to America and located in Massachusetts, but 
a few years later they came westward and became numbered among 
the pioneers of the state of Wisconsin, being among the early settlers 
in the vicinity of the present city of Oshkosh, where they located in 
the year 1840, at which time the settlers in the locality were few and the 
land practically unreclaimed from the virgin forests. There the father of 
our subject developed a good farm, prospering in his efforts with the lapse of 
years and becoming one of the prominent and honored citizens of the Badger 
state, where both he and his wife passed the remainder of their days, each 
living to a venerable age. The father died at the age of ninety-two years, 
his cherished and devoted wife having passed away at the age of eighty-one. 
Richard Abrams was a man of strong mentality, was prominent in religious 
work and in the establishment and maintaining of schools, and both he and 
his wife were zealous workers in the Episcopal church, with which they be- 
came identified after their removal to \Visconsin, there having been in the 



2 50 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

vicinity of their iiome no organization of the Presbyterian faith, to whici: 
they had pre\'iotisly held. In politics Mr. Abranis was a stanch advocate of 
the principles of the Democratic party. In his family were six sons and 
five daughters, and of the number the subject of this sketch is the only rep- 
resentative on the Pacific coast. Three of the sons sacrificed their lives while 
defending the Union during the war of the Rebellion. William was wounded 
in the engagement at Pittsburg Landing and died from the effects of his 
injuries. He was a graduate of Appleton College, in Wisconsin, and had l^ecn 
a successful teacher prior to entering the army. John Abrams still maintains 
his home in Wisconsin ; George was killed at Pittsburg Landing, having 
been on the "Mound City" at the time when the vessel was blown up by the 
Confederate soldiers; Henry met his death in the foundering of the "Brother 
Jonathan" off the coast of California; and Richard is engaged in mining in 
New Zealand. Of the five sisters, three are living at the present time. 

Robert Abrams was but ten years of age at the time when the family 
removed from Massachusetts to Wisconsin, and there he was reared under the 
sturdy and invigorating disciphne of the farm, his early educational training 
having been secured in a log school-hotise of the primitive type, but improve- 
ments were soon made in the facilities afforded, his father having been an 
earnest worker in behalf of the cause of education, as has been already stated. 
Robert remained on the old homestead farm, assisting in its development and 
cultivation, until he had attained the age of nearly twenty-one years, when 
he set forth to face the problems of life on his own responsibility, his equip- 
ment consisting of a sturdy physique, a self-reliant nature, a -good common- 
school education and a determination to make the best of the opportunities 
presented, while his integrity of purpose was unbending and insistent. He 
started forth at the age mentioned and made his way to California, via the 
Isthmus of Panama. After passing a few months in California he came by 
boat to Oregon, where he remained about a year and then came to Washington 
territory, where he became identified with the lumbering business, getting out 
spars and masts for vessels. At the time when he located here there were 
no steamboats on Puget Sound. In company with two companions he came 
to the Sound country and they camped near where Dexter Horton had his 
trading post, the triumvirate harmoniously dividing their labors, Mr. Abrams 
acting as the Nimrod of the party and supplying the larder with game, while 
one of his companions was the fisherman and the other acted as cook, so that 
they found themselves well placed. e\en in the wilds of the new country. 
y\t that time Mr. Abrams prophesied, basing his ideas upon the topography 
and natural advantages and upon information gathered from the Indians, 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 251 

that tliere would eventually be a great city on the Sound and tliat in all prob- 
ability the site would be that of the present city of Seattle. The total num- 
ber of buildings on the site at that time was but twenty-five. Mr. Abrams 
continued to devote his attention to the lumbering business in the line noted for 
a period of five years, and then established the first livery business in Seattle, 
bringing in the first carriage used in this section. He continued this enter- 
prise successfully for a period of sixteen years, and simultaneously carried 
on successful operations as a dealer in live stock, raising the same quite ex- 
tensively, as he became the owner of a tract of land soon after his arrival and 
has ever since been the owner of farm property. His present farm, located 
four miles south of the city, has been in his possession for twenty years, and 
he has been the owner of other valuable farm properties in the state, but his 
present real-estate investments are principally in city property, of which he 
has extensive and valuable holdings. He has platted ten acres of land which 
is known as Abrams' addition to South Seattle, and he has given his atten- 
tion to building and improving his realty in the city and its environs, erect- 
ing many residences and business buildings and placing the property on the 
market at terms in harmony with intrinsic values, his dealings having been 
conducted upon that high plane of integrity and fidelity which implies popular 
confidence and co-operation. He is one of the most progressive and public- 
spirited men of the city and state to whose upbuilding he has so largely con- 
tributed, and his success cannot but be viewed with pleasure by all who have 
cognizance of his earnest efforts and worthy career as a capable business 
man. He erected his present beautiful residence on Take Union about twelve 
years ago, and every house in which the family had previously lived was also 
erected by him. 

Ever true to the duties of citizenship, taking a lively interest in all that 
affected the welfare of his city and state and standing as a stalwart sup- 
porter of the principles and policies of the Republican party, it is but natural 
that Mr. Abrams should have been called upon to serve in positions of dis- 
tinctive public trust and responsibility. In 1875 he was elected to represent 
King county in the territorial legislature, where he proved a valuable and 
zealous worker. He was one of the principal factors in securing the passage 
of the bill providing for the closing of all saloons on election days ; was instru- 
mental in securing the legislation providing for the opening of the Snoqual- 
mie road, connecting the eastern and western parts of the state, and he did 
most effective and timely service in securing appropriations for the state uni- 
versity. In connection with these bills he was specially active and inde- 
tatigable, and through his efforts was brought about their enactment. He 



2 52 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

served sexeral terms as a member of the city council, and here his mature 
judgment and business sagacity were again brought into valuable play for 
the promotion of the best interests of the people. He held the office of county 
commissioner for a period of four years, though he did not make any personal 
canvass at the time of his nomination and had no desire for the office, his own 
personal business demanding his attention, but he was elected by a large 
majority and did his best to discharge his duties faithfully, and that he did 
thus discharge them is evident when it is recalled that such was the popular 
appreciation of his services that he was chosen as his own successor, serving 
for a second term. He and his family are attendants of the Congregational 
church, and fraternally he is identified with St. John's Lodge, No. 9, F. &. 
A. AL, in the administration of whose fiscal afifairs he has been prominent. 

In what is now the town of Renton, on the i8th of June, 1872, Mr. 
Abrams was united in marriage to Miss Mary H. Brown, daughter of Captain 
Robert and Charlotte (Heppingstone) Brown, of New London, Connecticut. 
She is the fourth in order of birth of a family of ten children. Both father 
and mother are deceased. Her brothers and sisters are all in Seattle with the 
exception of one brother, Avho resides in San Francisco. Eight of the chil- 
dren are living. Richard H. married Martha Anderson, of Skagit county, 
Washington, and they have three children. Mr. and Mrs. Abrams are the 
parents of three sons and three daughters, namely : Richard H., who is a 
contractor and builder in this city, as is also Robert W. ; Norman B., who is 
engaged in the real-estate business with his father; Mary, the wife of 
Arthur Lawley, a resident of Boston, JMassachusetts, where he is engaged in 
the ship building business; and Violet and IMildred, who remain at the parental 
home, where a gracious hospitality is ever in evidence and where is found a 
favorite rendezvous for the wide circle of friends which the family have gath- 
ered about them. 

GEORGE \V. KUMMER. 

The student of the history of Seattle has marvelled at the rapid growth 
and advancement of the city in recent years, especially since the work of build- 
ing had to be begun anew after the great fire of 1889. But although much 
has been accomplished, there is much still to be done and the opportunities 
and possibilities of this metropolis of Washington are attracting men of 
marked business ability from all sections of the country. Among this number 
is George W. Kummer, a stockholder and the general manager and secretary 
of the Denny Clay Company of Seattle, which is engaged in the manufacture 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 253 

of sewer pipe, drain pipe and all kinds of brick and ornamentations for de- 
corating the outside of brick buildings. 

A native of Pennsylvania, George W. Kummer was born in Allentown, 
July, 6, 1 85 1, and is of French, Spanish and German ancestry. The Kum- 
mers are of German lineage, but John Kummer the grandfather of our sub- 
ject, was born in Madrid, Spain, whence he emigrated to Philadelphia, rear- 
ing his family in that city, where he engaged in the manufacture of woolen and 
linen goods, becoming a prominent representative of its commercial interests. 
He lived to be eighty years of age, but he lost his wife when they were on 
shipboard coming to America. They were bringing with them their entire 
family of twelve children, but the vessel encountered storms and adverse 
winds and every member of the family died with the exception of the father 
and one son, Jacob Kummer, who became the father of the subject of this, 
review. Jacob Kummer was born in 18 16 and pursued his education in Phil- 
adelphia. He became extensively engaged in merchandising there and in 
partnership with another man, brought his goods form the New York market 
to Philadelphia in large wagons. For some time they enjoyed a very suc- 
cessful trade and Mr. Kummer had acquired eighty thousand dollars, when 
his partner absconded and left him with very little. Howe\er, he managed 
to continue in business and later engaged in the manufacture of bed spreads 
and other such articles. This enterprise also proved profitable and in course 
of time he largely retrieved his lost possessions and became a successful man. 
He married Rebecca Huntsberger, a representative of an old Virginian fami- 
ly of planters and slave-owners. Mr. and Mrs. Kummer removed to Aliens- 
town, Pennsylvania, where he continued to carry on his business. They were 
members of the German Reformed church, living in consistent harmony with 
their professions, doing naught that would reflect discredit upon the church 
of their choice. Mr. Kummer departed this life in 1885. His widow, how- 
ever, still surs'ives and is now living in her eighty-second yeai at Loyal Oak, 
Ohio, where her husband passed away. They were the parents of twelve 
children, but only three are now living: Alfred, who is pastor of the First 
Methodist Episcopal church of San Jose, California; Anna M., who became 
the wife of George Hanson and resides with her mother in Loyal Oak, Ohio ; 
and George W. 

George W. Kummer was reared in the Buckeye state and pursued his 
education in the public schools. He was only eight years of age when he 
earned nine dollars and a half by carrying w'ater to the men who were 
working on the construction of the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad. 
When a youth of ten years he left home to work on a farm and for the first 



2 54 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

two years his pay was a wagon-load of corn. As he grew older and was 
able to perform more service, he was givai wages proportionately high, 
yet most of the time he had to take his pay in corn, for there was but 
little money in circulation in the country. He continued farm work until 
his nineteenth year. When he left home nine years before, his mother had 
given him a half dollar, which was the only money he handled during all 
of that period. That fifty cents he has kept through all life's vicissitudes 
and when a little daughter came to bless his home, a hole was made in the 
coin and a ribbon put through it and it was hung about the little one's 
neck. j\Ir. Kummer still has this coin which he prizes very highly. 

When nineteen years of age Mr. Kummer, not content with his lot, 
ran away from the farm on which he was employed and made his way to 
. Akron, Ohio. He was without money but he went to a hotel and the people 
of the place being pleased by his appearance gave him work at fifty cents 
per day, but he did not like the associations there and at the end of the 
week he left the hotel and secured a position in a printing office in the 
capacity of printer's devil at two dollars and a half per week. He w^as 
thus employed for a year. Board in the place was three dollars per week 
but he got an old colored man to furnish him meals for two dollars and a 
half per week and he slept on the book-binder's table in the office. The 
rats ran around the room in search of the paste used in the establishment 
and his quarters were certainly not luxurious, but he made the best of his 
surroundings, eagerly watching, however, to improve his condition. The 
first day of his ser\'ice in the printing ofifice he told one of the editors that 
he could scarcely read or write, but that he desired to learn, and the man 
furnished him with reading matter. The second year he was paid three 
dollars per week, and the third he was given the position of city reporter 
at ten dollars per week. For three years he was in the editorial room and 
became correspondent for the Cincinnati Inquirer and for newspapers of 
Chicago, Boston, Pittsburg and other cities. He spent two years in the 
composing room as foreman and when the bookkeeper defaulted, Mr. Kum- 
mer assisted in straightening out the books and became bookkeeper and 
manager's assistant. During this time he attended night school, taking up 
a college course. He was retained in the business department of the paper 
for three years and then was promoted to the position of city editor, in 
which capacity he ser\^ed for six years. He was with ihe Akron Daily 
Beacon for eighteen years in all and in that period rose from the most 
humble position in the office to the highest. This brief account, however, 
gives one little knowledge of the hardships which he had to endure in gain- 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 255 

ing his start. His health broke under the arduous stress of business and 
study and when he left the office he only weighed one hundred and two 
pounds. His strength had completely given way and one day he fell faint- 
ing upon the street and was picked up for dead. 

It was then that Mr. Kummer decided to seek a change of climate by 
establishing his home upon the Pacific coast. He arrived in Seattle one 
week after the great fire, coming to this place in order to write up the sit- 
uation for eastern papers. He remained for three months* during which time 
he wrote many articles about the country and its prospects. He then re- 
turned to the east, sold out his interests there, gave up his newspaper cor- 
respondence, and accepted a position on the Pacific Christian Advocate in 
Portland, in September, 1889, having charge of the business management 
of that paper. Subsequently the Puget Sound Fire Clay Company made 
him a proposition to take stock in it and doing so he was elected secretary 
and treasurer of the company, entering upon the duties of his new office in 
February, 1890. That company sold out to the Denny Clay Company and 
he was elected to his present position as general manager and secretary-, in 
which capacity he has since served, giving the highest satisfaction to all 
concerned by his faithful performance of duty, his capable supervision and 
his effective labors in increasing the business. The plant represents the in- 
vestment of four million dollars and is operated to its full capacity. All 
kinds of sewer and drain pipe are manufactured, together with brick and 
ornamental work for decorating the outside of brick buildings. The pro- 
duct is sold in Alaska, British Columbia, South Africa and all over the 
Pacific coast, and a very extensive business is being done, a fact which is 
largely due to the efforts and capable management of Mr. Kummer. Our 
subject has the honor of being the president of the Manufacturers As- 
ciation of Seattle, but devotes the greater part of his attention to the large 
business which he is controlling so successfully. 

In 1872 Mr. Kummer was united in marriage to Miss Jennie N. Robin- 
son, of Wisconsin, and unto them have been bom three children, but they 
had the misfortune to lose their eldest daughter. Ruby Grace, who died at 
the age of twenty-two years. She had just been married to W. L. Blackett 
and was a most accomplished and brilliant young woman who had a host 
of friends in the city, so that her death was deeply mourned. The elder son, 
John Alfred, is now a student in Vashon College, and George W. is pur- 
suing his education in the public schools of Seattle. Mr. and Mrs. Kummer 
are valued members of the Methodist church and he belongs to the Inde- 
pendent Order of Odd Fellows, the Ancient Order of United Workmen, 



2 56 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

and the Seattle Athletic Club. He is also a member of the Seattle Chamber 
of Commerce, of which he was formerly the vice-president. His political 
support is given to the Republican party, but aside from supporting the men 
and measures in which he believes he takes no active part in politics. He 
indeed deserves mention among the most prominent of Seattle's merchants 
and among her representative citizens, and should find a place in the history 
of the men of business and enterprise in the great northwest whose force 
of character, sterling integrity, control of circumstances and whose marked 
success in establishing great industries have contributed in such an eminent 
degree to the solidity and progress of the entire country. His life has been 
manly, his actions sincere, his manner unaffected and his example is well 
worthy of emulation. 

FRANK \V. MITCHELL. 

Frank \\\ Mitchell occupies a commanding position in the business cir- 
cles of Seattle, being the vice-president and manager of the store belonging 
to the Mitchell. Lewis & Staver Company, extensive dealers in mining and 
milling machinery, wagons and carriages. It is true that he entered upon 
a business already established, but many a man of less resolute principles 
could not have carried on the work, increasing the business of the house as he 
has done, and in his labors he has shown marked enterprise, keen discernment 
and strong purpose. Mr. Mitchell is a native of Washington and his family 
is of Scotch lineage. The grandfather, Henry Mitchell, was born in Scot- 
land on the nth of March, 1810. and in 1833 crossed the Atlantic to the 
new world, taking up his abode in Chicago, Illinois, where he engaged in the 
manufacture of the Mitchell wagon. In 1856 he removed to Kenosha, Wis- 
consin, where he established the Bain Manufactory, which he afterward sold 
to E. Bain. His next place of residence was Racine, and there he became 
the founder of the Mitchell & Lewis Company, which carried on a very ex- 
tensive business there, manufacturing thirty thousand wagons yearly. Mr. 
Mitchell died on the 23d of October, 1893, at the advanced age of eighty- 
three years. 

\Villiani Henry Mitchell, the eldest son, antl the father of our subject, 
was born in Chicago in 1S34 and accompanied his parents on their removal 
to Kenosha. The year 1853 witnessed his arrival on the Pacific coast. He 
crossed the plains with oxen, leaving his Wisconsin home in April and arriv- 
ing in Olympia, Washington territory, in the following October. He was 
a single man at that time. Imt while enroute met the ladv who afterward be- 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 257 

came his wife, for she traveled in the same wagon train and the acquaintance 
thus formed ripened into love that was consummated by marriage. She bore 
the maiden name of Martha T. Johns and was a native of Tennessee. Her 
father was Bennett L. Johns, who came direct from Missouri to the north- 
west and located in Seattle in 1853, becoming a pioneer resident of the town. 
At Olympia William Henry Mitchell was lirst engaged in cutting cord wood, 
but soon turned his attention to blacksmithing and later to the butcher busi- 
ness. As he prospered he enlarged the field of his activity until he became 
actively engaged in the wholesale cattle business and for a short time was 
also in the grocery business. He likewise conducted a bakery and became 
interested in a saw mill at Tumwater, near Olympia, as a member of the firm 
of Ward & Mitchell. He afterward owned a mill in Olympia, there carrying 
on business for a number of years. His enterprise grew in volume and im- 
portance and he became one of the builders of a railroad extending from 
Olympia to Tenino, of which line he had the entire control. In 1882 he sold 
this and in that year he made his first visit back to his old home in Racine, 
from which he had been absent twenty-nine years. Later he returned to 
Portland, Oregon, for the purpose of representing the Michell & Lewis Com- 
pany on the Pacific and introducing their wagons into this part of the coun- 
try. He found a good market for the products of the factory which his 
father had established, and continued in the business until 1892, at which 
time the present Mitchell, Lewis & Staver Company was formed, of the Mich- 
ell & Lewis Company general agency and the Staver & Walker Company. 
The new company was incorporated in Portland in February, 1892, and Mr. 
Mitchell, the father of our subject, became its president. He retired from 
active participation in the business, however, in 1897 and is now spending 
the evening of life in a well earned rest at Tumwater, near Olympia. He 
is, however, the nominal head of the company. He has a most beautiful 
property and well he merits an honorable retirement from labor. His career 
has certainly been one of remarkable success, deserving of the admiration 
and respect of all. His efforts, too, have been such as command uniform 
confidence and his career has ever been characterized by sterling integrity, 
by keen foresight and managing ability that far exceeded that of the average 
person. The lady who shared with him in all the pioneer experiences of life 
in the northwest was called to her final rest in 1896 when fifty-six years of 
age. Mr. Mitchell has been a lifelong Democrat, but is not a bitter partisan. 
He has filled various offices, including that of sheriff of Thurston county, in 
which he was an incumbent in 1857. He was likewise a member of the Wash- 
ington territon.^ legislature, being widely recognized as a leader of public 



258 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

thought and opinion as well as in industrial and commercial circles. Mr. 
and Mrs. Mitchell were the parents of five children, four of whom are yet 
living: H. W., who is now manager of the business of the Mitchell, Lewis 
& Staver Company in Portland, and is secretary and treasurer of the corporar 
tion ; Edith, the wife of A. McCoquadale, an employe of the Oregon Railroad 
and Navigation Company, at Portland; and Albert B., who is with his father 
at Tumwater. 

Frank W. Mitchell was educated in the schools of his native city and 
in a business college in San Francisco, California. In 1882 he became con- 
nected with his father's business as a bookkeeper, also performing other of- 
fice duties, and the latter went upon the road as a traveling salesman through 
the northwest, selling the products carried by the house. He also opened a 
branch house in Walla \Valla, conducting it for a year, at the end of which 
time he again went upon the road. In 1887 he returned to the office and 
continued his connection with the business in Portland until 1894, at which 
time he came to Seattle to assume the management of the extensi\e trade 
which is controlled from this point, the house having been established here 
at the time of the incorporation of the company in 1892. They deal on an 
extensive scale in mining and milling machinery, wagons and carriages, their 
goods being shipped to many parts of the United States. His business abil- 
ity, executive force and keen insight have been largely instrumental in pro- 
moting the business in the northwest, bringing to the corporation a high de- 
gree of prosperity. 

In 1887 was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Mitchell and Miss Georgia 
May Riggen, of Portland, who was born in California. They became the 
parents of one daughter, Mildred May, who was left motherless in 1897 by 
the death of Mrs. Mitchell. On the ist of January, 1900, ]\Ir. Mitchell was 
again married, his second union being with Miss Marie Histermann, a native 
of Germany, who in her childhood was brought to America by her parents, 
who located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Later she returned to the father- 
land and was educated in some of its best schools. In 1S89 she came to 
Seattle, just after the great fire here. Both Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell have 
a host of warm friends in this city, the hospitality of many of its best homes 
being accorded them. Mr. Mitchell is one of the native sons of Washing- 
ton, having always been identified with the interests of this state. He votes 
with the Republican party and is deeply interested in all that pertains to the 
progress and improvement of the northwest. He is thoroughly informed 
concerning his business, Jiaving made a close study of it in principle and de- 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 259 

tail. He stands to-day, strong in his manhood and strong in" his honor and 
good name, a most prominent and active factor in the commercial life of 
the northwest. 

ALFRED BATTLE. 

The history of the Seattle bar shows that Alfred Battle has been con- 
nected with almost every case of importance, especially in the branches of 
civil law, that has been tried in the courts of this district during the past 
fifteen years. He has attained to a position of distinction as a representa- 
tive of the legal fraternity and is a member of the law firm of Ballingery 
Ronald & Battle, one of the most celebrated law firms in the state of Wash- 
ington. Our subject is a native of Texas, his birth having occurred in Mc- 
Lennan county on the 22d of March, 1858. The family is of French line- 
age and at an early period of American history was established in North 
Carolina and Virginia. It was well represented by valiant soldiers in the 
Revolution, and members of the family largely aided in establishing the 
policy and course of the old Dominion during an early period in their set- 
tlement. Thomas E. Battle, the grandfather of our subject, was born in 
Virginia, whence he removed to Georgia and was there married and reared 
his family. He held membership in the Methodist church and became one 
of the early representatives of that denomination in the south. He took 
a verj' active part in church work and was a man of great usefulness and 
influence. "His days were long upon the land" for he attained the ripe 
old age of ninety-six years, leaving behind him a memory that was long 
enshrined in the hearts of those who knew him. 

Nicholas William Battle, the father of our subject, was born in Georgia, 
and pursued his education in Virginia. He married Miss Ann Cabanass, 
also a native of Georgia, and when the country became involved in Civil 
war, true to his love for the land of the south he joined the Confederate 
army and served his country with the rank of colonel. After the close of 
hostilities he removed to Waco, Texas, where he practiced law during the 
remainder of his business career. He is now residing in Seattle at the ven- 
erable age of eighty-one years, but the lady of his choice, who so long 
traveled life's journey with him, sharing in its joys and sorrows, its adver- 
sities and prosperity, was called from his side on the 3d of February, 1900, 
departing this life at the age of seventy-tw-o years. Like her husband she 
was a devoted member of the Baptist church and enjoyed the respect and 
warm regard of many friends. Unto this worthy couple were bom eight 



26o REPRESENTATIVE CTflZENS OF 

children, of whom four are yet h\ing, Thomas E. and Mrs. L. W. Goodrich 
being still residents of Texas, while Edgar and Alfred make their home in 
the city of Seattle. 

Alfred Battle pursued his education in Waco University, now the Bay- 
lor University, in which institution he was graduated with the class of 1878, 
winning the first honors of that class and becoming its valedictorian. He 
acquired his legal education in his father's law ofifice and in the Vanderbilt 
University of Nashville, Tennessee, and was admitted to the bar in Marlin, 
Texas, entering upon practice in connection with his father, in Waco, Texas, 
where he remained until March, 1887. The following year he came to 
Seattle and opened an office, practicing alone until 1889, when he entered 
into partnership with S. M. Shipley, this association being maintained until 
1897, when Mr. Battle became the junior member in the present well known 
and prominent firm of Ballinger, Ronald & Battle. 

In the great fire which swept over the city on the 6th of June, 1889, 
Mr. Battle lost his fine library and all of his nice furniture, which was un- 
insured. After the fire, at the time the streets w'cre remodeled and re- 
graded, there arose much heavy litigation in which the city was involved and 
Mr. Battle was employed by Seattle to assist the corporation counsel. One 
of the first cases of this kind was that brought by the Seattle Gas and Elec- 
tric Light Compan}' against the city to recover one hundred thousand dol- 
lars for damages alleged to have been sustained by reason of the change 
in street grading. Mr. Battle won this suit for the city and afterward won 
the suit brought by the Oregon Improvement Company, in\-ol\'ing the right 
and title to a portion of certain street property. Other cases came up in 
rapid succession in which he took such a conspicuous part and so demon- 
strated his superior ability that he became a candidate of his party for cor- 
poration counsel. He had not sought the office, but made the race, running 
several hundred votes ahead of the Democratic ticket, but the entire Re- 
publican ticket was elected. The large vote which he polled, however, proved 
his present popularity and the confidence reposed in him by many of the 
opposition as well as those of his own party. Mr. Battle has since been re- 
tained as counsel, either for the plaintiff or defendant in almost every nota- 
ble suit that has arisen in this district since that time. Among these may 
be mentioned the suit of Dexter, Horton & Company, versus Sayward, 
involving the Port Madison Mill property and the franchises of the Con- 
solidated Street Railways in Seattle. In this case be was employed by the 
petitioners. Beginning with the month of February, 1896, he has repre- 
sented possibly four-fifths of the litigated cases and proceedings relating 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 261 

to the Seattle tide lands; and in fact has made a specialty of tide land liti- 
gation, which, together with corporate and municipal litigation, has con- 
stituted a large part of his practice. He has acquired the reputation of 
being one of the ablest land lawyers in the state. He has a most compre- 
hensive and accurate knowledge of the principles of jurisprudence bearing 
upon these departments of litigation and there is added to his superior talent 
in the line of his chosen calling a keen mentality, a strong determination, a 
logical turn of mind that cause his argimients to follow a regular sequence. 
j\Ir. Battle was united in marriage in June, 1900, to Miss Madge Fow- 
ler, a native of Newton, Kansas, and a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. E. B. 
Fowler, of Brighton Beach, Washington, near Seattle. Our subject has 
always been an advocate of the Democracy and is a recognized leader in the 
ranks of his party in Washington, although he has never been a politician 
in the sense of an aspirant to office. He belongs to the Bar Association 
and the Ranier Club, also the Seattle Athletic Club and in social circles is 
very prominent, while at the bar he has made a most brilliant record. He 
has ever occupied a prominent position in the legal ranks of the practitioners 
of Seattle. His life has been one of untiring activity and crowned with 
a high degree of success, yet he is not less esteemed as a citizen than as a 
lawyer, and his kindly impulses and charming cordiality of manner have 
rendered him exceedingly popular among all classes. The favorable judg- 
ment which the world passed upon him in his early years has never been 
set aside nor in any degree modified. It has, on the contrary, been em- 
phasized by his careful conduct of important litigation, his candor and fair- 
ness in the presentation of cases, his zeal and earnestness as an advocate, 
and the generous commendation he has received from his contemporaries, 
who unite in bearing testimony as to his high character and superior mind. 

W. D. WOOD. 

On the Pacific coast W. D. Wood has spent his entire life and to-day 
he is numbered among Seattle's leading and influential citizens. His birth 
occurred in Tomales, California, on the ist of December, 1858. He comes 
of English ancestry. His father, Guy M. Wood, was born in Canada and 
in 1852 came to the new world, taking up his abode in California, so that 
he was the progenitor of this branch of the Wood family in the United 
States. He married Miss Sarah J. Bell, a native of Canada, and in order 
to provide for his family devoted his attention to farming and dairying, 
following the dual pursuit in the Golden state for many years. In 1891, 



262 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

however, he left California and with his wife came to Seattle, where they 
are now esteemed residents of the city, the former being m his seventieth 
year, while Mrs. Wood is sixty-three years of age. Both are \alued mem- 
bers of the Methodist church. Unto them were born seven sons and a 
daughter. 

Of this family W. D. Wood is the eldest. In the public schools of 
his native state he acquired his preliminary education and later became a 
student in Napa College, after which he pursued a two years" course in the 
law department of the University of California and was admitted to the 
bar of that state in 1882. He immediately selected Seattle as a city in 
which to begin his professional career, believing that he might here achieve 
success. He became a partner of the Hon. J. T. Ronald and they prac- 
ticed together for about two years. On the expiration of that period Mr. 
Wood entered into partnership with Judge I. M. Hall. He had previously 
learned shorthand reporting and in addition to his practice did court re- 
porting for some time. In 1885 he was elected probate judge of King 
county, serving with ability in that office for two years and in 1888 he be- 
came associated Avith Eben S. Osborne in the title and abstract business 
under the firm name of Wood & Osborne. This was the beginning of the 
business now conducted by the Osborne Temper Company. 

In 1889 Mr. Wood withdrew from the firm to become connected with 
a large real estate investment and improvement company. He secured an 
extensive amount of property in the vicinity of Green Lake and with others 
constructed the Green Lake Electric Street Railway with the result that 
extensive improvements were carried on in that part of the city, greatly 
benefitting Seattle thereby. In 1889 ]Mr. W^ood was elected by popular 
ballot as a member of the first state senate of Washington, representing 
King county for a term of one year. In 1893 he was appointed a member 
of the board of regents of the L'niversity of Washington, in which office 
he served for two years, and in 1895 he was appointed inayor of Seattle 
to fill a vacancy caused by the resignation of the Hon. Frank D. Black. 
During his incumbency as the chief executive of the city Mr. Wood ex- 
ercised his highest powers to advance Seattle's interests along every line 
of substantial improvement and progress. He made an excellent record 
in office, winning the high commendation of the general public. In 1897, 
at the time of the Klondike excitement, he went north to engage in the 
work of transportation and in merchandising in the Yukon country, and 
with others organized the Seattle- Yukon Transportation Company. Since 
that time i\Ir. Wood has given his entire attention to that work, having the sue- 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 263 

cessful management of the business in the north, while Mr. A. L. Hawley 
liad the management of the business in Seattle. Mr. Wood spent more 
than half of his time in the Yukon country during this period, the enter- 
prise having grown to a gross business of one million dollars per annum. 
At the termination of four years the Seattle- Yukon Transportation Com- 
pany sold out to the consolidated company and Mr. Wood spent the season 
of 1 90 1 in closing up his business affairs in the north, having recently re- 
turned to Seattle to remain permanently here. 

In 1883 occurred the marriage of JMr. Wood and Miss Emnui J. Wall- 
ingford, a native of the state of Minnesota, and a daughter of Captain John 
N. Wallingford, of Seattle. Four children have been born to them, but 
only one is now li\'ing, Paul, who is with his parents. Our subject and his 
wife are members of the Plymouth Congregational church and occupy an 
enviable position in social circles. Mr. Wood has been a life-long Republi- 
can and is a citizen of the highest integrity and respectability, having made 
for himself a creditable record in every position which he has filled, whether 
of a public or private nature. 

DANIEL JONES. 

Daniel Jones, who for the past twelve years has been extensively en- 
gaged in real estate dealing in the city of Seattle, is a native of Blossburg, 
Pennsylvania, where his birth occurred on the 4th of March, 1856. 

Daniel Jones was only about four years of age when the family re- 
moved to Iowa and therefore he was reared in .the west, becoming imbued 
with its progressive, enterprising spirit. He pursued his education in 
Grinnell College of that state, in which he was graduated in 1881. 
He engaged in teaching school for several terms and then wishing to make 
the practice of law his life work entered upon a course of study in Colum- 
l)ia College of New York city, where he was admitted to practice in 1883. 
In that year he removed to Fargo, North Dakota, where he opened an office 
and engaged in practice, but afterward took up his residence in Minne- 
apolis, Minnesota. There he became interested in real estate, and his new 
venture so occupied his time and attention that he abandoned the practice of 
law. In 1888, he arrived in Seattle, where he began dealing in real estate 
and in June, 1889, after the great fire, he became associated with G. C. Phin- 
ney in leasing the ground where the Butler Hotel now stands and erecting 
the block that is now upon that site. In the fall of 1891 Mr. Jones sold 
his interest in the property to his partner. Mr. Phinney died in 1893 and 



264 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

since that time our subject has had charge of his estate. He is now handhng 
real estate on his own account and for others does a loaning, renting and 
insurance business. He is thoroughly informed concerning the value of city 
property, and is a most reliable business man. It was Mr. Jones who sold 
Woodland park to the city, and through his efforts in that direction met 
with great opposition at the time, all give him credit now, for at this day 
the property is worth at least fifty thousand dollars more than it cost the 
city. 

Mr. Jones is a stanch Republican, unswerving in his advocacy of the prin- 
ciples of the party, but he has never sought or desired office. He is a mem- 
ber of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. 

HENRY A. SMITH, M. D. 

The subject of this review is one whose history touches the pioneer epoch 
in the annals of the Pacific coast and whose days form an integral part of 
that indissoluble chain which links the early formative period with that of 
latter-day progress and prosperity. When Washington was cut off from 
the comforts and advantages of the east by the long, hot stretches of sand 
and the high mountains he made his way across the plains, braving all the 
trials and hardships of pioneer life in order to make a home in the north- 
west — rich in its resources, yet unclaimed from the dominion of the red man. 
For a half century he has resided in this section of the country and was the 
first physician to locate in the little settlement which has developed into the 
beautiful city of Seattle. 

Dr. Smith was bom near Wooster, Wayne county, Ohio, on the nth 
of April, 1830, and is of German lineage on the paternal side, while on the 
maternal he is of English ancestry, the two families being founded in America 
during an early epoch in her history. His great-grandfather, Copleton 
Smith, served his country in the Revolutionary war. He owned one thous- 
and acres of land, over which the city of Philadelphia has since spread and 
from which he was driven by the Indians, who murdered his wife. Later, 
when he returned to his property, he found that it had been taken by others, 
who met him with rifles and would have killed him had he pressed his claim. 
He was a man of wonderful physical endurance and lived to the very advanced 
age of one hundred and twenty years. When one hundred years old he cut 
ten new teeth. 

Nicholas Smith, the father of the doctor, was born in Pennsylvania 
ii: 1799. He married Abigail Teaff, a native of \''irginia, and they removed 




W^L^ 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 265 

TO Wooster, Ohio. He was a minister of the Christian church and engaged 
in preaching during the greater part of his hfe. He died in his fiftieth year, 
but his wife, long surviving him, passed away at the ripe old age of eighty 
years. She came west with her son, the Doctor, and acted as his housekeeper 
throughout the pioneer period in Seattle's development. A most earnest and 
devoted Christian woman, she belonged to the church in which her husband 
was a minister and her influence was widely felt for good and left an indeli- 
ble impression upon the lives and characters of her children. She was the 
mother of nine children. The only surviving one, with the exception of the 
Doctor, is Samuel T. Smith, who resides in Florida. 

Dr. Smith was educated in the public schools and Alleghany College 
at Meadville, Pennsylvania. He also began the study of medicine in the last 
named place and continued it in Cincinnati, Ohio. For some time he en- 
gaged in practice in Keokuk, Iowa, and then resolved to make his home on 
the Pacific 'coast, which was then being rapidly developed, although pioneer 
conditions yet largely existed. In 1852 he crossed the plains with oxen and 
mules, California being his objective point. He traveled with a large com- 
pany and fortunately took with him a big supply of medicine, which came 
into good play, for it was the year of the cholera scourge, when so many 
emigrants suffered from tliat dread disease. Dr. Smith was instrumental in 
saving the lives of many and also made considerable money by the exercise 
of his professional skill. 

When he arrived at the Nevada mountains he decided to go to Oregon, 
and arrived at Portland on the 26th of October, 1852, the place being then 
a logging camp containing a few hundred people. General Stevens was en- 
gaged in surveying a road to the Sound and the Doctor concluded that was 
a very favorable outlook for the development of the country, so he decided 
to go on. Leaving his mother and sister at Portland he followed the road up 
the Cowlitz river, reached Olympia in safety and on shipboard proceeded 
down Puget Sound. He became enamored with the beauty of the scenery/ 
and resolved to make a home in this portion of the country. He made a 
claim of one hundred and sixty acres on one of the little bays which jut 
inland from the Sound, and the place naturally took his name, being called 
Smith's cove. To the south of his location there w"as a large bay, beside 
which was a sawmill and a few log cabins. He became the physician of the 
little settlement, which is now the magnificent city of Seattle. There was 
little sickness in the camp and therefore but slight opportunity for Dr. Smith 
to earn a living at his profession, so he planted potatoes and these largely sup- 
plied him with the necessaries of life at an early day, but gradually the set- 



266 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

tlement grew, his professional ser\ices were more and more in demand and 
in course of time he had a large and lucrative practice. After some years 
had passed he built a hospital and patients were brought to him on boats from 
other places and his business became a great success. I-'or many years he 
practiced in King and adjoining counties, doing much to alleviate human 
sufYering and to restore health, and distinction came to him by reason of his 
professional skill. His property also grew in value. He became possessed 
of eight hundred acres of land and sold a portion of this for $75,000, retain- 
ing, liowever, fifty acres. Subsequently this became worth more than the 
part which he had sold. He built a wharf at the foot of Pike street and a, 
brick block at the corner of James and Second avenues. After the fire he 
also erected a number of tenemait houses. His real estate investments 
brought to him a handsome fortune, owing to the increase in the value of 
property. He was likewise a stockholder in the Merchants National Bank. 

But many years had passed and it required the combined efforts of many 
enterprising citizens to make Seattle the beautiful city which we to-day find 
it. Dr. Smith recalls many incidents of pioneer days, when life was fraught 
with hardships and ofttimes with danger. During the time of the Indian 
war he was obliged to leave his claim and take refuge in the town and his 
liome and others outside the town were destroyed. The Doctor volunteered 
and was surgeon of Compan}' A and Company H of the Sixth Regiment, 
receiving his commission from Governor Stevens. Their duty was to guard 
the town and scour the surrounding country while the families remained in 
safety within the stockade. In December, 1856, the Indians attacked the 
town, the fight lasting all da}'. The go\ernment ship Decatur had just en- 
tered the bay and took a part in the battle which saved the town. The ship 
shelled the Indians, who were filled with great consternation at the balls 
which shot twice. An Indian saw a ball from the ship fall, and, thinking 
that he had found a prize, ran and jjicked it up. Just then it exploded and 
killed him and several others. Oidy two white men lost their lives in that 
struggle. 

In 1862 Dr. Smith was happily married to Miss Mary A. Phalen, a 
native of Wisconsin, and unto them have been born a son and seven daughters, 
.and with one exception all are yet living. Lula became the wife of J. R. H. 
Pennefather, an attorney of Seattle; Luma married George Linder. Jr.. of 
Boston, who is now a resident of this city; Maude became the wife of Charles 
'Teaflf, of San Francisco, and died from the effects of a surgical operation in 
1899; Laurine is at home; Ralpli W. is engaged in mining in Alaska; May 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 267 

is with her parents ; LilHiin married William Tompkins ; and lone married 
C. H. Graff, a professor in the University of Wisconsin. 

The Doctor has been a Republican since the organization of the party 
and has four times been elected by his fellow citizens to the lower house of the 
legislature, where he served with honor and credit, leaving the impress of 
his strong and upright nature upon the legislation enacted during that period. 
He never sought office, never asked for a vote and never was defeated in an 
election, and while he was presiding officer in the council there was never 
sn appeal taken from his rulings. His political record in these regards is 
almost without a parallel, and indicates in unmistakable terms not only his 
personal popularity but also the unqualified confidence reposed in his ability, 
loyalty and trustworthiness. Dr. Smith has written a number of valuable 
reminiscent articles concerning the early times, which have been published 
by the press and are of much historical mterest and value. One of these was 
a description of the Indian chief Seattle, for whom the town was named, and 
also gave an account of one of the chief's oratorical efforts, of which the 
Doctor had taken notes. The measure of good which Dr. Smith has ac- 
complished in the world cannot be estimated, but all who know aught of his 
history acknowledge his ">\'orth, lirst in his professional capacity, then as a 
citizen who has contribiited to the material upbuilding of the city which he 
has chosen as his home and again as a public official, over whose record there 
falls no shadow of wrong or suspicion of evil. 

JOHN X. WALLIXGFORD. 

It has been truly said that the real-estate dealer may make or mar a 
city. If he has a deep interest in the welfare and improvement, not only 
because of the prosperity which may accrue to him, but also because of a 
loyal and progressive public spirit, he will so conduct his transaction that 
the beauty of the city will be enhanced and the improvements carried on 
along those lines which bring substantial upbuilding and material progress. 
In this respect Mr. Wallingford is an ideal citizen and his labors have been 
of much benefit to Seattle. He is both widely and favorably known here 
and his life history therefore cannot fail to prove of interest to many of 
our readers. 

The width of the continent separates Mr. Wallingford from his birth- 
place, for he is a native of Athens. Somerset county, Maine, where he first 
opened his eyes to the light of day on the 4th of July, 1833. The family 
is of English lineage. The grandfather, Jacob Wallingford, was born in 



268 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

England and on crossing the broad Atlantic took up his abode in Rochester, 
Xew Hampshire, where he reared his family, among whom was Jonathan 
\\'allingford, the father of our subject, who was born in Rochester, on the 
/th of July, 1762. In 1780, when but eighteen years of age he volunteered 
for service in the Revolutionary war and was stationed at West Point, where 
at the close of the long struggle which brought independence to the nation 
he received an honorable discharge. He married Miss Betsey Bunker, a 
native of Pittsfield, New Hampshire, and they removed to the Pine Tree 
state, where he cleared and developed a farm upon which he spent, his re- 
maining days, his death occurring when he had attained the age of eighty- 
five years. His wife survived him and lived to the very advanced age of 
ninety-three years. They were the parents of ten children, of whom Air. 
Wallingford and his sister, Mrs. Betsey Durkee, of Minnesota, are now the 
only survivors. 

Jolm N. Wallingford was educated in the public schools of his native 
town. When fourteen years of age he lost his father, after which he re- 
moved to the western part of Maine and later to the western part of Mas- 
sachusetts. Subsequently he sought a home in western Minnesota, and in 
April, 1861, in response to President Lincoln's call for aid to crush out the 
Rebellion, he enlisted in Company H, Second Regiment, Minnesota Volun- 
teer Infantry. He had watched with growing interest the progress of events 
in the south, noticed the attitude brought about by the slavery question and 
resolved that if the southern states attempted to secede and thus overthrow 
the Union he would strike a blow in its defense. His regiment was as- 
signed to the Western Army under General Thomas and the first engagement 
in which he participated was at Mill Springs, after which he took part in 
the hard-fought battles of Pittsburg Landing, Perryville, Stone River and 
various skirmishes. The regiment made a splendid record, never suffering 
defeat in a single engagement. Mr. Wallingford joined the army as a 
private but was promoted to the rank of orderly sergeant and afterward 
to second lieutenant. Taken ill, because of his disability, he was honorably 
discharged, but w-hen he had sufficiently recovered his health he raised a 
company, which filled up the depleted ranks of the First Minnesota Infantry, 
and of which he was made captain. With his company be proceeded to 
the front and served on the Potomac until General Sherman had made his 
way to the sea and General Lee had surrendered his forces to General Grant, 
thus practically ending the great sanguinar>' struggle, which had been car- 
ried on with such sacrifice of the brave boys of both the north and the south, 
but which resulted in the perpetuation of the Union that stands to-day 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 269 

stronger than ever before. Mr. Wallingford had the honor of being one of 
the participants in the grand review which passed through the streets of 
Washington and before the stand upon which the President cheered the boys 
in blue who had so vahantly fought for their country — the most celebrated 
military pageant ever seen on the western hemisphere. In the fall of 1865 
Mr. Wallingford was mustered out and returned to his home a veteran 
and a victor. 

Again taking up the peaceful pursuits of civil life he established a gen- 
eral mercantile store in Rochester, Minnesota, conducting the enterprise for 
some time with signal success. He also became the owner of a farm, to the 
operation of which he gave his personal supervision, but having become tired 
of the cold winters of Alinnesota he removed to California in 1873. Locat- 
ing in Napa City, he there established a lumber business and was foreman 
of the yard for fourteen years. 

In 1888 Mr. Wallingford arrived in Seattle and here began dealing in 
real estate. He has principally handled his own property at Green Lake, 
where he has platted eighty acres, a part of it in Wallingford Park and the 
remainder in Wallingford division to Green Lake. The land there is being 
rapidly built upon and improved and recently there has been erected a fine 
school at a cost of thirty-five thousand dollars. The Green Lake car line 
extends to his property, making only a twenty minute ride to the business 
portion of the city. Mr. \\'allingford has made judicious investments 
and closely watching market values he has so handled his prosperity that 
it has brought him an excellent return upon his investment. 

In 1857 occurred the marriage of Mr. Wallingford and ^liss Arabelle 
J. De Groot, a native of New York city and unto them have been born a 
son and a daughter. Noble, whose home is in Seattle, is now engaged in 
mining in Alaska, while the daughter, Emma J., is now the wife of the 
Hon. William D. Wood, ex-mayor of Seattle and ex-judge of the probate 
court of King county. Mrs. Wallingford is a valued memljer of the Meth- 
odist church and our subject attends its services and contributes to its sup- 
port. In Seattle he built a family residence, which he afterward sold for 
twenty-seven thousand dollars and with his family he is now living in the 
beautiful suburb of Green Lake. 

In politics Mr. Wallingford has ever been a faithful adherent of the Re- 
publican party, firm in his belief that its platform contains the best elements 
of good government. While residing in Minnesota he served for two years 
as deputy sheriff and in Seattle has twice been a member of the city council 
and for two terms was police commissioner. He belongs to the Society of 



2;o REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

Sons of the American Revolution, aided in organizing the Grand Army Post 
in Napa City, California, and since the formation of that society has been 
one of its worthy supporters. For more than twenty years he has been an 
exemplary member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and at all 
times is faithful to its teachings which inculcate a fraternal spirit. .\ man 
of strong indivduality and indubitable probity, one who has attained to a 
due measure of success in the affairs of life, and whose influence has ever 
been exerted in the direction of the good, the true and the beautiful, this 
honored veteran of the Civil war assuredly demands representation in this 
volume. 

ALBERT L. KELSALL. 

Albert L. Kelsall is president antl maiiager of the Northwestern Iron 
Works, doing business at the foot of University street, in Seattle, and his 
enterprise is one of the paying industrial concerns of the city. A native of 
New Jersey, Mr. Kensall was born in Newark, February lo, 1859. His 
great-grandfather on the maternal side was Elias Hall, who was a scholar 
and literary gentleman of note in his day. He was the author of several 
works on geological subjects, one of which Mr. Kelsall now has in his pos- 
session and prizes very highly. His father, Henry Kelsall, was born in 
England and came to the United States in 1840. He was a hatter by trade 
and engaged in business along that line in the east until the Civil war began, 
when he volunteered in defense of the government of his adopted country, 
enlisting in the Tiwenty-ninth Regiment, New Jersey Infantry, for nine 
months' service, and on the expiration of that period he enlisted in the 
Thirty-third Regiment, New Jersey Zouaves, serving as a valiant defender 
of the Union cause until the close of the war, but he died from effects of his 
arduous army life, passing away at his home in Newark, New Jersey. He 
had married Miss Ann Vernon, a lady of English ancestn,-, and unto them 
were bom eight children. After the death of her first husband, she married 
again and had three children by the second marriage. Of the first family, 
Theodore E., is secretary and treasurer of the Northwestern Iron Works. 

Albert L. Kelsall was educated in the public schools, learned the ma- 
chinist's trade in Oskaloosa, Iowa, and has since made that his life work. 
He was for several years in Chicago and other important cities and in 1888 
came to Seattle. After remaining in the city and watching business condi- 
tions and opportunities for six months he engaged in business with the 
Charles Hicks Company, and in 1897 bought out ]\Ir. Hicks' interest and 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 271 

incorporated the Xorthwesteni Inm Works, being associated with liis 
brother, previously mentioned, Ole Stanwick and M. A. Kelsall. The firm 
manufactures all kind of marine, mill and mining machinery, and has se- 
cured a large and successful business. 

[n 1885, Air. Kelsall was united in marriage to ]\Iiss May A. Perry, a 
native of Ohio, and they have three children: Harry Cadwallader Kelsall, 
who was born in Oskaloosa, Iowa, Ray Roland Kelsall and Lillian Altheo 
Kelsall, who are natives of Seattle. Mrs. Kelsall is a member of the Meth- 
odist church, but Mr. Kelsall gives his preference to the Congregational 
church. He is a very prominent Alason, having been initiated into the mys- 
teries of the Order in Tri Luminar Lodge, No. 18, F. & A. ]M., of Oskaloosa, 
Iowa. He now affiliates with Eureka Lodge, No. 20, of Seattle, and of this 
lodge he is a past master. He belongs to Oriental Chapter, No. 19. R. A. 
M., and to Seattle Commandery, No. 2, K. T., and in all of these he is a 
valued working member. In the Scottish Rite he has attained the thir- 
tieth degree, and is also a member of the Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles 
of the Mystic Shrine, his membership being in Afifi Temple, at Tacoma. 
Thus he has gained a knowledge of almost all that is to be learned in con- 
nection with the great fraternity and the teachings of the craft which pro- 
mote all that is uplifting, ennobling and helpful in life. In politics he has 
always voted with the Democracy but is not bitterly partisan and desires the 
best interest of the country, no matter along what avenue the advancement 
is secured and promoted. 

JOHN FIELD. 

.\.mong the citizens of Kent to whom is vouchsafed an honored retire- 
ment from labor, as the reward of a long, active and useful business career, 
is John Field, who through an extended period has been connected with the 
interests of King county. He was born in Kent, England, on the 20th of 
November, 1837, a son of Peter and Betsy (Sullow) Field, l.ioth also natives 
of that place, the father born in 1802 and the mother in 181 7. and there they 
spent their entire li\-es, the father being called to his final rest in 1870, while 
the mother survived until 1885. 

John Field received his early education in the parish schools of his native 
• place, and later attended a private boarding school in that city He remained 
on the old home farm with his parents until i860, and in October of that 
year came to America, spending the first year here on a farm in New Jersey. 
In the spring of 1862 he removed to Sussex. Waukesha county, Wisconsin, 



2/2: REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

where in the following August he enlisted lor the Civil war, joining the 
Twenty-eighth Regiment, Wisconsin Infantry, with which he served for three 
years, being mustered out at Brownsville, Texas, in August, 1865, while his 
discharge was received at Madison, Wisconsin, shortly afterward. After a 
short visit at his former home in Sussex, Wisconsin, Mr. Field located at 
Pine Bluff, on the Arkansas river, where he was employed as overseer of a 
large force of negroes on a cotton plantation during the winter of 1865-6. 
For the succeeding five years he worked in the lumber camps of Eau Claire, 
Wisconsin, and for three months during the year of 1874 he found employ- 
ment in the vineyards of Santa Cruz and San Jose, California. His next 
place of residence was at Port Gamble, Washington, to which place he re- 
moved in the fall of 1874, and for the following six months was engaged as 
a watchman in the sawmills there. In May, 1875, ^""^ took up his abode in 
Seattle, and in the fall of the same year rented a farm in the White river val- 
ley, four miles from the present town of Kent, where he followed agricultural 
pursuits until 1890, and during this time also secured residence lots in Kent 
and Seattle and a small farm in Lewis comity, but in 1891, on account of ill 
health, he sold his entire possessions and for the following two years was an 
inmate of the Soldier's Home at Orting. Since 1893, however, he has made 
his home in the beautiful little town of Kent, where he owns a pleasant and 
attractive home. His energy and enterprise, capable management and honor- 
able dealings brought to him a comfortable competence, and therefore he is 
able to put aside all business cares and rest in the enjoyment of the fruits of 
former toil. 

At Sussex, \\'isconsin. in April, 1867, ^Ir. Field was united in marriage 
lo IMiss Mary Ann Greenland, who was born in Vermont in 1S37, and was 
of English descent. Her death occurred at Eau Claire, Wiscons^i, in 1872, 
leaving one child, William T. Sherman Field, who is now engaged in agricul- 
tural pursuits in Waukesha county, that state. At Kent, Washington, in 
1896, our subject was again married, Mrs. Georgiana Ziegler becoming his 
wife. She was born at Paducah, Kentucky, on the 12th of May. 1849, but 
when a child was taken to Indiana and afterward to Illinois, where, in Gal- 
latin county, in 1866, she was married to John N. B. Coombs, a farmer. He 
was called to his final rest in 1872, and at Harrisburg, Illinois, his widow was 
married to Eli Ziegler, who departed this life on the 3d of January, 1894. In 
the following j-ear she came to Kent, Washington, and in this city, in 1896,- 
she gave her hand in marriage to Mr. Field. By her first marriage she be- 
came the mother of two children : Lillie, the wife of Ed Richardson, of 
Kent, and William, also of thif citv. Unto the union of Mr. and Mrs. Ziegler 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 273 

five children were born, namely: Eva, who became the wife of Edward 
Zeeum, of Kent; Anna, the wife of Oliver Cavanaugh, of this city; and 
Stella, Lulu and James R., at home. In his political affiliations Mr. Field is 
allied with the Democracy, but during Lincoln's second race for the presidency 
he supported the Republican party, his vote being cast at Little Rock, Ar- 
kansas, where he balloted with one hand while with the other he held his 
musket. During his residence in the White ri\-er valley he served for twelve 
years as constable. In his fraternal relations he is a member of Hiram Ver- 
non Post, No. 76, Grand Army of the Republic, in which he is serving as 
senior vice commander. His reputation in business has ever been unassailable, 
and in all the walks of life he is found true to duty and to the trusts reposed 
in him. 

WILLIAM ARNEY. 

William Arney is the senior member of the firm of Arney Brothers, 
dealers in general merchandise and also extensively interested in dairy farm- 
ing and other enterprises at Kent and Blaine, Washington. He was born in 
Somersetshire, England, on the nth of April, 1862. His father, Jesse 
Arney, was born in the same locality in 1819, and his death there occurred in 
1886. He, too, followed the vocation of farming, and he obtained an honor- 
able position in the business of the community. The mother of our sub- 
ject, who bore the maiden name of Sarah Duckett, was also born in Somerset- 
shire, in 1838, and in 1888 she came with her family to America, locating at 
Forest, Livingston county, Illinois, where she made her home until 1890. In 
tliat year the family came to Kent, Washington, and she now resides on the 
farm owned by her son William. 

William Arney went to New South Wales, Australia, in 1880, where he 
was engaged in the dairy business for four years and after his return home he 
accompanied the family on their removal to the new world. In 1890, with 
the otlier members of the family, he came to Washington where during the 
first year he was employed on the Hewett farm, one mile south of Kent, and 
(luring the following two years he farmed that place as a renter. In 1902 he 
became the owner of one hundred and forty-five acres of land one mile south 
of Kent, where he and his mother still make their home. Forty acres of the 
place have since been sold in small tracts, and until May, 1902, the remainder 
of the place was devoted to dairying purposes, but since that time they have 
carried on general farming. This is one of the banner farms of the valley. 
In 1 90 1 three of the Arney brothers. William. John and Frank, purchased 



274 REl'RESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

a dairy farm of two hundred and seventy acres near Blaine, Washington, 
wliere they keep one hundred milch cows and also carry on general farming, 
the place being under the management of John Amey. William and Frank, 
as partners, have a forty-acre farm on Suise creek, three ir.iles from Kent, 
on which is a large cheese factory, established in 1901, and they there handle 
from four to five thousand pounds of milk daily. In 1896 the two brothers 
also established a general mercantile store on Front street, in Kent, and in 
1901 they purchased their present handsome and commodious store building 
on that street, this being one of the most important mercantile establishments 
in the White river valley. With the exception of a prospecting tour to Alas- 
ka in 1900, William Arney has resided in Kent continuously for twelve years, 
and during all this time he has so lived as to win and retain the friendship and 
esteem of all with whom he has come in contact. His political support is 
given to the Republican party, and in his fraternal relations he is a member of 
the Ancient Order of United Workmen, of Kent. 

Frank Arney, the junior member of the firm of Arney Brothers, was 
born near Bristol, England, on the 14th of ^lay, 1872, av.d he was there 
reared and educated. Removing 'with the family to the new world in 1S88, 
he resumed his studies in Illinois for a time, and after completing his educa- 
tion he was employed at farm labor until he became established in business 
with his brother W^illiam. He was married at Kent, in 1896. to Carrie Reed, 
and they have two children, May and W'illiam Rodney. 

The other members of the Arney family are : John, the manager of the 
dairy farm at Blaine; Rodney Jesse, an Episcopal minister at Seattle; 
Edward, a civil engineer at Perth, Australia ; and George, a minister in the 
Methodist church and now located at Bremerton, Washington. 

AUSTIN P. BURWELL. 

Austin Peck Burwell. \\ho for sex'eral years has been the president of 
the .Seattle Cracker & Candy Company, occupies a foremost position in com- 
mercial circles in this city, having achieved splendid success through business 
methods that will bear the closest investigation and scrutiny. He is a na- 
tive of Pennsylvania, his birth having occurred in the city of Mercer, in 
Mercer county, January 31, 1848. He is of English ancestry and the line 
of descent in this country can be traced back to John Burwell, who came to 
Massachusetts when the Mayliower made its second voyage. He located 
near Middletown, Connecticut, and Elias Burwell. the grauflfather of our 
subject, was born in New Haven, Connecticut. \\'hen lie had arrixed at 






'l^L-rr^rt^j^ 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 275 

man's estate he married Miss Amy Piatt, of Milford, Connecticut. In the 
Charter Oak state lie engaged in business as a manufacturer of clocks. He 
held membership in the Congregational church and lived an upright life, but 
was called to his final rest at the early age of thirty-three years, dying of 
pneumonia. His wife long survived him and attained the advanced age of 
eighty-two years. Their son, Austin Smith Burwell, the father of our sub- 
ject, was born on the 12th of February, 1814, and married Miss Susan Peck, 
of Orange, Connecticut. He, too, engaged in the manufacture of clocks and 
also conducted a cabinet-making business in Allegheny, Pennsylvania. In 
1847 he removed to Mercer, that state, \vhere he opened a large general mer- 
cantile establishment, continuing in business there until 1871, when he was 
succeeded by his two eldest sons, A. P. and A. S. Burwell. In 1885 he came 
to Seattle, where he remained until his death, which occurred on the 23d of 
March, 1901, when he had reached the age of eighty-seven years. He was a 
most public spirited gentleman, taking a deep interest in every measure and 
movement calculated to advance the general welfare. For two terms he 
served as mayor of the city and was a most honorable and upright officer. 
Both he and his wife were consistent Christians and the influence of their 
characters is seen in the lives of their children. They had four sons and 
three daughters, all of whom became identified with Christian work at an 
early age. They lost one son, Harvey, when only seven years of age. 

Austin Peck Burwell obtained his early education in the public schools 
of his nati\-e town and supplemented it by a five years course in Oberlin 
College, where he was graduated with the class of 1870. He then engaged 
with his brother in the conduct of the business which their father had estab- 
lished and in which they met with gratifying success. After conducting the 
enterprise for eighteen years they sold the store, and in 1885 came to Seattle, 
which was then a city of about ten thousand popiilation. Here the three 
brothers, Austin P., Anson S. and Edward, became identified with business 
affairs. They organized the Seattle Hardware Company, carrying on a whole- 
eale and retail business which grew to very large proportions. In fact, this 
!s now the most extensive enterprise of the kind in the state of Washington. 
Mr. Burwell remained in the firm for nine years and then sold his interest 
to his brothers who still continue the store. In 1894 he aided in organizing 
the Seattle Cracker & Candy Company and was elected its president and man- 
ager, continuing in control of its aflfairs with marked success until 1899, when 
the business was sold to the Pacific Biscuit Company, a large corporation 
which now controls the greater part of the business in this line for the state, 
Mr. Burwell being retained as manager of the branch in Seattle and also of 



276 REPRESEXTATR'E CITIZENS OF 

the business throughout tiie state of Washington to western Idaho and to 
Alaska. They manufacture all their own goods, including a very large line 
of confectionery of every description. ^Ir. Burwell gives his entire atten- 
tion to the management and operation of the important and extensive busi- 
ness which is under his control, yet has various other investments which ma- 
terially increase his annual income. He is a member of the chamber of com- 
merce of the city and for two terms ser\-ed as one of its trustees. 

On the 3d of Augu.st, 1871, was celebrated the marriage of Austin P. 
Burwell and Miss Anna Nourse, who had been one of his classmates at Ober- 
lin College. They have two daughters, Mary Elizabeth, now the wife of 
G. F. Waterhouse, of Honolulu, and Susan B., who is with her parents. All 
are valued members of the Congregational church, of which Mr. Burwell is 
a deacon. He is also active in the work of the Sunday-school, teaching one 
of the adult Bible classes and for several terms has served most acceptably as 
Sunday-school superintendent. He contributes liberally to the support of the 
chiirch and does all in his power to promote tlie moral progress of the com- 
munity with which he has allied his interests. His political support is given 
the Republican party but he has never been an office seeker. The cause of 
education finds in him a warm friend, and for a number of terms he has 
served as one of the school directors, .several of the fine school buildings of 
the city having been ercted during his official connection with educational 
interests here. He has r.ever neglected an opportunity to do his city a good 
ser\-ice. Mr. Burwell and each of his brothers have built expensive and 
beautiful homes which stand side by side, their lawns being undivided by 
fences. The business relations between them have ever been of the most 
harmonious character and all are regarded as upright and honorable men 
who have deservedly won a score of friends in the city of their adoption. 
Surrounded at his home by a large circle of friends who appreciate his true 
worth, and admired and esteemed by the citizens of the community, the name 
of Austin P. Burwell will be honored for many generations as that of one of 
the most enterprising business men of Seattle — a man who has acted well 
his part and who has lived a worthy and honorable life. 

JA]\IES H. TITUS. 

The name of James H. Titus is inscribed high on the roll of King county's 
honored pioneers and eminent men, and the part which he took in founding 
and developing the county well entitles him to prominent mention in this 
volume. He established the town of Kent, in which he has long made his 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 277 

liome, laboring for its promotion and welfare. He is honored and esteemed 
by his many friends and acquaintances, and the influence of his life upon the 
community has been most beneficial. 

]\Ir. Titus was born in Kennebec county, Alaine, on the 26th of Septem- 
ber, 1823, and his ancestors settled in that locality when the territory was 
known as Massachusetts. They are of English descent. His father, James 
Titus, was born in the same house in which he first saw the light of day, his 
birth there occurring in 1792, and he died at old family home in 1880. His 
wife, who bore the maiden name of Elizabeth Gould, w^as of Scotch and Eng- 
lish dfescent, and was born in Kennebec county, ]\Iaine, March 3, 1799. She 
passed to her final reward in 1870. 

James H. Titus received his education in the district schools of his native 
county, and until his fourteenth year remained under the paternal roof, after 
v;hich he spent one year as a shoemaker, while for a similar period he was em- 
ployed in an oil-cloth factory. He next served an apprenticeship at the 
blacksmith's trade at Augusta, Maine. In 1844 he left the ancestral home 
and removed to Michigan, where for a year he worked at the blacksmith's 
trade in Kalamazoo and Marshall, and for the suceeding foui years made his 
home at Springfield, Massachusets. Returning to Maine in 1849, he pur- 
chased a farm in Kennebeck county, but in that year the gold excitement in 
California attracted him, and selling his possessions in the old Pine Tree state 
he made the journey, via Cape Horn, to the Pacific coast in the fall of 1849. 
During the first four years in the Golden state he worked at his trade in 
i^Iarysville, while for the succeeding ten years he was the proprietor of a hotel 
at Oroville,. and in 1872 he came to Seattle, Washington, purchasing and 
making his home on a farm on the Dwamish river for two years. In 1874 
he took up his abode at Maddoxville, on the White river, where he followed 
the dual occupation of farming and blacksmithing for five years, on the ex- 
piration of which period he became the owner of one hundred acres of land, 
and on a portion of this place the town of Kent was afterward built. When 
the Northern Pacific Railroad was constructed through this section, in 1884, 
Mr. Titus disposed of a part of the farm on the east side of the track to 
parties who laid it out into town lots, but he has since held the remainder, con- 
sisting of about thirty lots, on which he has erected many residences, and the 
property is situated on the west side of the railroad track. He is practically 
the founder of the town of Kent, which stands as a monument to his enter- 
prising spirit. In its infancy this place was given the name of Titusville, but 
at the request of the post ofifice department the name was afterward changed 
to Kent. His political support has ever been given to the Republican party 



278 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

a;ul on its ticket lie was made the second mayor of Kent, Ijemg elected to that 
jiosition in 1892. W'iiile a resilient of California he held the office of justice 
of the peace for a number of years. In his fraternal relations he is a charter 
member of Titusville Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, with which 
he has been identified since its organization in 1886. 

The marriage of Mr. Titus was celebrated in Springfield, Massachusetts, 
in 1846, when Miss Sarah Ketchum became his wife. .She was born in 
Brownhelm, Lawrence county, Ohio, on the 26th of June, 1828, and in the 
maternal line she is of English and Irish descent, while her paternal ancestors 
were of Dutch descent and were among the early settlers of Massachusetts. 
Eight children were born unto the union of IVIr. and Airs. Tittis, but the family 
circle has been broken by the hand of death, George Henry, who was born in 
1848, having died in California at the age af twenty-two years, while a 
daughter, Carrie L., born in 1857, died in Whatcom county, Washington, in 
1S93. The living children are: James Arthur, a resident of Kent; Edward 
Everett, a farmer near that city ; Melvin, who is engaged in agricultural pur- 
suits in Whatcom county; Edith M., the wife of James G. Jones, also of Kent; 
Lillie E., the wife of James Shofif, of Ladner, British Colurnbia; and Leroy 
C, at hc.r.e. For many years this worthy couple has lived and labored to 
goodly er.ds among the people of King county, and they are leaving the im- 
press of their individuality upon the public life, the substantial growth and 
material development of the region. 

WILLIA:M BREMER. 

So composite is the social fabric of our republic that we can as yet 
scarcely be said to have developed a national type, and amor.g the many ele- 
ments that have entered into the makeup of our populace there is none which 
has been of more vital and valuable order than the German, from which 
.America has had much to gain and nothing to lose. From the great German 
empire have come many of our most progressive citizens, — men of sterling 
worth of character and endowed with that pragmatic ability which has pro- 
moted advancement along all lines of material industry and has ever stood 
for social stability. Among the representative young men of German birth 
who have attained distinction in connection with the industrial life of the 
state of Washington is Mr. Bremer, who has maintained his home in the Pu- 
get Sound district for the past fourteen years and who has attained marked 
precedence as an able and enterprising business man. — one who has con- 
tributed in no small degree to the work of development and improvement 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 279 

through legitimate Hues of endeavor. He is well deser\ing of representation 
in this publication as one of that progressive type of men who ha\e made the 
Evergreen state v.-hat it is to-day. He is the owner of the town site of Bre- 
merton, was one of the founders of the village of Sidney and through his 
real-estate operations and wel! directed enterprise has done much to forward 
the material development of this section of the state, maintaining his home and 
business headquarters in the city of Seattle, where he commands unequivocal 
confidence and esteem. 

William Bremer was bom in the town of Seesen, duchy of Brunswick, 
Germany, on the 12th of June, 1863, being a son of Edward and iNIatilda 
(Mader) Bremer, representatives of stanch old families of the German father- 
land. Edward Bremer was a man of prominence in his locality, having been 
engaged in the banking business and having" attained considerable wealth and 
exercised notable influence in local afifairs. He passed his entire life in his 
native land. He and his wife became the parents of eight children, of whom 
the subject of this review was the fifth in oider of birth. He received his 
educational discipline in his native land, having completed a course in the 
Jacobson Institute, at Seesen, the same being an institution of more than 
national reputation. In his youth Mr. Bremer became identified with the 
banking business, which he learned in all its details, this training having 
proved of inestimable value to him in his subsecjuent business career. After 
serving what may be termed an apprenticeship in a banking house in his 
native town he went to the city of Hamburg, where he was identified with a 
similar line of enterprise for a period of two years, ^^'hen in his twentieth 
year Mr. Bremer bade adieu to home and native land and came I0 .America, 
whither his elder brother. Charles E., had preceded him, being now a pro- 
minent capitalist and business man of Aberdeen. South Dakota. Our subject 
passed about one year in Minnesota and the following three years were spent 
in South Dakota. When but twenty-one years of age he was appointed state 
agent for the John Gund Brewing Company, of La Crosse, Wisconsin, and 
was incumbent of this responsible position for a tenn of two years, and since 
that time he has never worked on salarv', having attained a position of inde- 
pendence and conducted operations on his own responsibility. — a fact that is 
significant, as indecatory of his exceptional business and executive ability, 
and the more notable by reason of the circunlstance that when he came to the 
United States he had but slight knowledge of the English language. He was 
for a year engaged in agricultural operations in South Dakota, and at the ex- 
piration of that period, in January, 1888. he came to Washington. Here, 
associated with three others, he purchased the land upon which the town of 



280 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

Sidney, Kitsap county, is now located, and they became the founders of the 
town, platting the same and placing the lots upon the market. The village is 
now in a prosperous and thriving condition and its further advancement is 
assured. It should be noted in this connection that Mr. Bremer has bought 
and sold land in nearly every section of Kitsap county, being one of the prime 
tactors in its development and his straightforward and honorable course is 
shown by the fact that he has never been compelled to enter into litigation 
with any person to whom he thus sold property. Ever since his arrival in 
Washington Mr. Bremer's principal field of business operations has been in 
Kitsap county, which is on the western shore of the Sound, and he has been 
conspicuously identified with the development of its resources, the building 
up of its towns and the advancing of its material interests. It is a recognized 
fact that in his real-estate transactions in that county he had done more busi- 
ness than that representing the aggregate of all other operators in this line, 
and he is well entitled to the distinction of being designated as one of the 
founders and builders of that section of our great commonwealth, while the 
statement made affords an idea of the great scope and importance of his work, 
in 1 891 Mr. Bremer platted the town of Bremerton, in the county men- 
tioned, and through his energy, discrimination and far-sighted policy the de- 
velopment of this attractive village was brought about, while the town has 
an assuredly bright future before it, since he continued to be actively identified 
with its interests. At that point he sold to the federal government eighty- 
six acres of land at a sacrifice to himself of fifty dollars an acre, in order to 
insure the location of the naval station there, thus indicating his public spirit 
and showing his confidence that the future would justify his course, for a 
more eligible location for the navy yard on Puget Sound could not be found, 
and while he lost forty-three hundred dollars on the immediate transaction 
he firmly believed that his action was politic from a personal as well as general 
standpoint, and time is proving the wisdom of his attitude. This station has 
the only dry dock on the Pacific coast that will accomodate the largest type of 
war vessels, and the significance of this statement can not fail of appreciation 
e\en at a cursory glance. Mr. Bremer has not only thus brought about the 
development of town property, but he has also been extensively engaged in 
the handling of farming and timber lands in the county, usually buying the 
property outright and then placing it upon the market, while in numerous 
instances he has made valuable improvements before selling. He passes 
Wednesday and Saturday of each week in Bremerton, but mauitains his home 
in the city of Seattle and has his office headquarters in the Bailey building, 
suite 404. In politics Mr. Bremer gives a stanch support to the Republican 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 2S1 

party, but he has never had personal ambition in a poHtical way and has taken 
:io active part in pubHc affairs of this nature. His success has been of pro- 
nounced type and he is known as one of the representative young business 
men of the state, in whose future and greater precedence he has the utmost 
confidence, while a more loyal and enthusiastic citizen of the commonwealth 
cannot be found. 

On the 25th of March, 1891, in the city of Seattle, was solemnized the 
marriage of Mr. Bremer to Miss Sophia Hensel, who was born in Portage, 
Wisconsin, a daughter of William Hensel, a well known business man of 
Seattle, and of this union three children have been born, namely : ]\Iatilda, 
William and Edward. 

LY^IAN B. ANDREW^S. 

To the energetic natures and strong mentality of such men as, Lyman 
B. Andrews, is due the success and ever increasing prosperity of the Republi- 
can party in this state, and in the hands of this class of citizens there is every 
assurance that the best interests and welfare of the party will be attended to,, 
resulting in a culmination of the highest ambitions and expectations enter- 
tained by its adherents. Given to the prosecution of active measures in 
political affairs, possessing the earnest purpose of placing their party beyond 
the pale of possible diminution of power, the Republican leaders in W^ashing- 
ton are ever advancing, carrying everything before them in their irriesistible 
onward march. Certainly one of the most potent elements in the success of the 
Republican movement in Washington has been exhibited in the personality of 
Lyman B. Andrews, who throughout his life has been a loyal citizen, imbued 
with patriotism and fearlessness in the defense of his honest convictions. He 
is now filling the position of receiver in the land office at Seattle. Other 
positions of trust have been filled by him with marked capability. Most 
loyally he has advocated the cause of the party whose principles he believes 
will best advance the welfare of the Nation. 

Mr. Andrews was born in Ontario county. New York, February 10, 
1829. His father, William Andrews, was a native of Connecticut, bom 
-April 17, 1804. The ancestral line can be traced back to John and Mary 
Andrews, who emigrated from England to the new world, settling in Connec- 
ticut in 1640. The line comes down from John and Mary through Daniel, 
Daniel, Joseph, Joseph, George and William to our subject. George An- 
drews, the grandfather, was born in Connecticut and on leaving the state of 
his nativity took up his abode in Rutland county, Vermont, whence he after- 



282 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

ward went to western New York. He was a ship carpenter, and also a house 
carpenter and joiner. WilHam Andrews, the father of our subject, was mar- 
ried in the Empire state and was engaged in agricuhural pursuits there but 
by trade was a brick layer and plasterer. He wedded Hannah Pierson who 
was descended from one of the old Holland Dutch families of New Jersey, 
whence representatives of the name came to the Empire state at an early day. 
Henry Pierson, the maternal grandfather of our subject, was born May i6, 
1752, and died at the advanced age of ninety-two years, on the fifteenth 
birthday of his grandson, Lyman B. He was one of the heroes of the Revo- 
lutionary war who fought for the independence of the nation and was with 
Washington when he crossed the Delaware on the bitterly cold Christmas 
night, surprising the troops at Trenton, and winning one of the glorious vic- 
tories of the war. William Andrews died at his home in Seattle in 1871, 
at the age of sixty-nine years, the family residence standing on the present 
site of the Lincoln apartment building, corner Fourth and Madison streets, 
His wife survived him about seven years, passing away in 1878. 

In the public schools of his native state and later in an academy in }ilicli- 
igan, Lyman B. Andrews pursued his studies, the family having removed to 
the latter state in 1832, but in 1841 returned to New York in order to care for 
the maternal grandfather of our subject. The year 1844, however, again 
witnessed their arrival in Michigan. Mr. Andrews, of tiiis re\'iew, was 
reared upon the home farm in the usual manner of lads of the period and 
afterward entered a machine shop where he learned the trade, being for a 
number of years thereafter employed as a machinist and railroad engineer 
on what is now the Lake Shore Railroad. He spent four or five years in 
Minnesota and in 1859 the entire family came to the Pacific cosat, journeying 
by way of New York and thence by steamer via the Isthmus of Panama to 
California. 

In i860 Mr. Andrews decided to go to a newer country and made his 
way to Seattle where, in connection with another man, he took contracts from 
the government for the surveys of public lands. He did consideraljle work 
of this character at a time when it was verj- hard to do surveying because of 
the dense timber growth. In 1863 he made the discovery of the coal pn)p- 
erty, now in possesion of the Pacific Coal & Iron Company, near Gilman. 
He homesteaded and secured four hundred acres of land which he owned and 
operated for several years and then sold the property for forty thousand dol- 
lars. His work in this direction led to investigations as to the richness of the 
coal deposits in this section of the country and subsequently to the discovery 
of other coal mines near Gilman and Newcastle. 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 283 

\\'ith the exception of the time spent upon the homestead at Oilman, Mr. 
Andrews has maintained his residence in Seattle and has seen it grow from a 
small place of one hundred and fifty white persons to its present extensive 
metropolitan proportions. He has also been a prominent factor in its indus- 
trial and commercial life and has contributed in no small degree to its im- 
provement and upbuilding. In early years he conducted a repair shop, his 
mechanical ability enabling him to do any kind of repair work, from that 
needed to repair the mechanism of a clock, up to that in demand in placing in 
order the most intricate and enlarged machinery. He had brought with him 
many tools which he used in the conduct of his shop here. Mr. Andrews also 
built two residences in the city, but he spent twenty years at the corner of 
Fourth avenue and Madison street, the present site of the Lincoln apartment 
building. In 1890-91 he erected a fine residence on Queen Ann Hill, the 
groitnds and house together costing about eighteen thousand dollars ; which 
after four or five years he sold. He has purchased and sold considerable 
vacant and also improved property, both for himself and other parties, and 
in his real estate dealings he has met with creditable success. 

Mr. Andrews has been prominent in public affairs and is a strong sup- 
porter of the principles of the Republican party. He advocated such prin- 
ciples even before the formation of this old political organization. He has 
always been active in party work and his services have been recognized in 
various ways. His first vote for president was cast in behalf of General 
Winfield Scott, the Whig candidate in 1852. He was elected the first county 
clerk of Brooklyn township, Hennepin county, Minnesota, after the admis- 
sion of that state to the Union. After coming to the territory of Washing- 
ion he was continuouly connected with public affairs and was sent as a dele- 
gate to the national convention at Philadelphia when General Grant received 
the nomination for his second term. He also attended the national conven- 
tion in Cincinnati, in 1876, as a national committeeman, having been ap- 
pointed to the position in 1872. In 1878, at a constitutional convention at 
Walla Walla, he represented the county of King, and when the constitution 
was framed by this body, it was submitted to the people and ratified by a two- 
thirds vote, but congress did not act upon it and the work had to be gone over 
again. In 1864 Mr. Andrews received the appointment of clerk of the United 
States District Court and held the office for ten and one half years, acting 
under five dififerent judges. In the territorial legislature he served as chief 
clerk for one term and he has been a member of the city council of Seattle for 
a number of terms, exercising his ofticial prerogatives in support of every 
measure for the general good. For two years he was police judge. After 



284 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

the formation of the stale he was elected to represent his district in the state 
legislature in 1891-3. In 1898 he was elected to the state senate, represent- 
ing the twenty-eighth district comprising the sixth and eighth wards of the 
city. He proved an active working member of the senate, leaving the impress 
of his individuality upon the legislation enacted during the session of 1899. 
He secured the passage of an appropriation of twenty-five thousand dollars 
by the state for an exhibit at the Pan-American Exposition, at Buffalo, New 
York. He was then appointed by Governor Rodgers one 01 the members of 
the state commission and elected by the other members to attend the exhibi- 
tion and throughout nearly the entire period of the operation of the fair he gave 
the state his time and services without charge. He was much interested in 
the success of the state exhibit, labored earnestly to get it together and in 
seeing that it was properly shown. He also was able to give general informa- 
tion to visitors concerning the state and his work was of great benefit to the 
state. In 1896 he was on the Republican ticket as one of the presidential 
electors, and although it was the year of the Populist success, he led his ticket 
by several hundred votes. On the 29th of April, 1902, his name was sent to 
the senate as that of a nominee for the responsible position of receiver of 
public moneys in Seattle and on the 8th of May following the appointment 
was confirmed by the senate. He took charge of the post on the i st of July. 
In addition to the duties which devolved upon him as receiver in the land oftice, 
he is also special disbursing agent of the government, having been nominated 
to this office by the secretary of the interior. He furnished surety bonds for 
both positions. Having had large experience in local departments both in 
Minnesota and Washington, he is specially well fitted to act as receiver of 
the land office and is thoroughly experienced in the routine of the work. 

Of the four children of Mr. Andrews, all are yet living and are mar- 
ried. W^illiam R., is an attorney of southern California; Mrs Eva Pat- 
terson resides with her husband, near Oilman upon a ranch which was given 
iier by Mr. Andrews. Judge R., a jjrinter by trade, is largely interested in 
Seattle and is engaged in erecting buildings upon his property on Seventh 
avenue. Lyman Ralph also has extensive real estate interests in this city. 

Such in brief is the life history of Mr. Andrews. He has taken an 
active part in the business that he has transacted, in the council chambers 
of his state, and his course has ever been above suspicion. The good of 
the public he places before partisanship and the welfare of his constituents 
before personal aggrandizement. He commands the respect of the mem- 
bers of the legislature, and at home, in the city of his adoption where he is 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 285 

best known, he inspires personal friendships of unusual strength and all who 
know him have the highest admiration for his good qualiiications of heart 
and mind. 

FRED A. GASCH. 

A man who has served the public long and well and I>een a highly re- 
spected citizen during his residence in Seattle is Air. Fred A. Gasch, now 
retired from an active business life. 

I\Ir. Gasch comes of a noted German family of musicians. His grand- 
father and his father, August Gasch, were both well known musicians, 
though the younger member of the family has not elected lo follow in their 
footsteps. He was born in Hermstedt, dukedom of Brunswick, Germany, 
February 20th, 1S43. He was reared and received his education in Ger- 
many until the age of eighteen, when he started out to make his own way 
in the world. He chose America as a future home, and having some rela- 
tives in San Francisco went directly to that place, where he immediately 
went to work in a machine shop, which trade he had learned in Germany. 
He enlisted in the Sixth California Infantry and sen-ed from August, 1864, 
until the close of the war. During this time he was detailed for special 
work on boats from San Francisco to Panama, guarding mail and treasure. 

In 1870 he settled in Seattle, which was then a small village of six 
ur seven hundred people. For a number of years he was employed in dif- 
ferent mills and shops, until 1875, when he had enough capital to engage 
in business for himself, in which he continued until 1886. Foreseeing the 
future of Seattle he made some investments in real estate which have since 
proved ver}' profitable. He believed in improving his property, and thereby 
showed his faith in its value. In 1889 he was elected county commissioner 
on the Republican ticket, which ofiice he held for eight years, two years 
under territorial and six under state administration. He had previously 
held the office of city councilman in 1883, and refused to be re-elected. 
One of the most important things which came under his administration 
was the building of the county court house, which was started in i88g and 
completed in 1901. When it came to deciding the location he was in favor 
of the best possible location, and used his efforts toward purchasing land 
where it would be convaiient for the general public. His efforts in this 
direction met with no response, and it was finally built on ground owned 
by the county. He then turned his attention to conducting the county affairs, 
which he has always done to the entire satisfaction of every one, and has 
now retired from office-holding. The next important work wiiich came 



286 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

under his supervision was the reorganization of the poor farm. Tliere 
was but a small building, insufficient to accommodate the patients, and the 
board set to work to put up a good alms house, which hail rooms for one 
hundred and twenty-three patients with proper accommodations for both sexes. 
The poor farm had been run at a great expense to the county, as they were 
buying produce, etc., which should have ..been made on the place. Mr. Gasch 
set to work to inculcate some thrifty German principles into the economic 
methods of the farm, and very soon made a good farm of it, planting an 
orchard and improving it in many ways. There was some dissatisfaction 
on the part of tax payers, as every one did not consider such extensive im- 
provements were necessary. ]Mr. Gasch invited an inspection of the build- 
ing and the working methods. A thorough examination was made by men 
of standing in the building line, and it was pronounced to be in accordance 
with the plans and specifications, and later the movement was upheld by 
everyone. He earned the respect of e\'ery citizen of the county, and it was 
with deep regret that he could not be induced to continue in the administra- 
tion of its afifairs. King county owes a great debt to Mr. Gasch. 

In 1890 he erected the double building, 608-10 Terry avenue, in half 
of which he makes his home. He fraternizes with the Independent Order 
of Odd Fellows, and is an honored member of the Grand Army of the 
Republic. 

In 1869 he was united in marriage to Anna Landgrabe, and to this 
couple have been born two children : Haibee, wife of Henry Sheabe, of 
Los Angeles, California; Fred, who has spent the last six years in the Klon- 
dike. 

GEORGE W. WARD. 

The life of George W. Ward is closely identified with the history' of 
Seattle, which has been his home for many years. He began his career here 
when the population of the city did not exceed twelve hundred inhabitants, 
and throughout the years which have since come and gone he has been closely 
allied with its interests and upbuilding. His life has been one of untiring 
activity and has been crowned with a degree of success which numbers him 
among the substantial residents of his adopted city. 

Mr. Ward is a native son of the Empire state, his birth there occurring 
in Cattaraugus, Cattaraugus county. March 23, 1838, and he is of English 
and Irish descent, his ancestors having settled in New England prior to the 
Revolutionary war, in which his paternal grandfather w-as a participant. The 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 2^7 

latter was born in ]\lassachusetts, as was also his son, C. H. Ward, the father 
of our subject. The family subsequently removed to Cattaraugus county, 
New York, where the latter was united in marriage to Miss Mary Hustetter, 
and in 1854 they removed to Illinois. He was a mechanic, and both he and 
iiis wife were members of the Baptist church. His death occurred in Chi- 
cago when he had reached his seventy-se\enlh year, and his wife was called to 
h-er final rest at the comparatively early age of forty-five years. They were 
the parents of four children, two sons and two daughters, three of whom are 
residents of Washington. William H. is a resident of Snohomish and Mary 
a. is the wife of C. E. Brown, of Seattle. 

George W. Ward recei\ed his education principally in the schools of 
Illinois, and in early life he began business career as an insurance agent. In 
the Prairie state he was united in marriage to Miss Louise Van Doren, a 
daughter of C. M. \'an Duren, who was descended from an old American 
family. Two children were born to Air. and Mrs. Ward in the Prairie state, 
Arthur C. and Susan E., both of Seattle, and the daughter is the wife of 
Henry D. Temple. With his family Mr. Ward came to Seattle in 1871. 
locating on a farm sixteen miles south of the city, where they resided for .two 
and a half years, and on the expiration of that period, in order to give their 
children better educational advantages, they removed to the city. He had 
learned the carpenter's trade in Illinois, and he then engaged in contracting 
and building in this city and also in the manufacture of sash and doors, thus 
continuing for about five years. Since that time he has been engaged in the 
real-estate, insurance and loan business in company with Mr. Llewellyn. Mr. 
W'ard is a man of splendid business and executive ability, and carries forward 
to successful completion whatever he undertakes. Through the channels of 
trade he has greatly promoted the interests of Seattle, and at all times he is 
alert in his efforts to improve the conditions of all lines of business that the 
country may thereby become more prosperous and that all people may enjoy 
more of the comforts of life. 

One child has been added to the family circle in Seattle, Mabel \^, now 
the wife of ^^^ M. Olney, of this city. The family are valued members of 
the Baptist church, in which Mr, Ward has served as deacon for forty years. 
In political matters he is a Republican and is a zealous advocate of the policy 
and principles of his party. Since his removal to the Pacific coast he served 
as a justice of the peace for a number of years. He is emphatically a man 
oi enterprise, indomitable energ}- and liberal views, and is thoroughly iden- 
tified in feeling with tlie growth and prosperity of the county which has so 
k'HP- been his home. 



288 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

THOMAS SANDERS. 

Thomas Sanders, president of the Bryant Lumber & Shingle Company, 
owning a mill at Bryant and one at Fremont, has attained to an enviable 
position in industrial circles and is now the owner of an extensive business 
which has been built up through the enterprise and ability of the partners. 
Mr. Sanders is a native of England, his birth having there occurred in 1856. 
His parents, John and Mary (Clements) Sanders, were both natives of the 
same country and in 1870 they emigrated to Petersburg, Canada, bringing 
witJi them their eight children, all of whom are yet living in Canada with 
the exception of the subject of this review. The father waii a farmer. He 
belonged to the IMethodist church and the family is one of the highest re- 
spectability. 

Thomas Sanders attended school in England and through observation, 
experience and reading has constantly broadened his knowledge, keeping 
well informed on all matters of general interest. In 1875 he went to Sagi- 
naw, Michigan, where he engaged in lumbering, and in October, 1879, 
he arrived on the Sound. Here he was first employed for wages and later 
engaged in contracting. In 1889 he entered into partnership with Mr. Verd, 
under the firm name of Verd & Sanders, and in 1891 they incorporated the 
Bryant Lumber & Shingle company. They own the entire stock and in the 
business they have met with gratifying success. They first established a 
shingle mill at Bryant and in the new enterprise prospered, their output 
continually increasing to meet the growing demand of the trade. In 1894 
they bought their large plant in Fremont and placed it at once in successful 
operation, at the same time retaining their mills at Bryant. After their 
arrival in Fremont they continued to increase their facilities until the mill 
now has a capacity of one hundred thousand feet of lumber in ten hours. 
They also have a door and sash factory and do all kinds of work in that 
line, employing one hundred and ten men in Fremont and one hundred men 
in Bryant, when running to their full capacity. The plant at the former place 
is worth seventy-five thousand dollars and at the latter place fifty thousand 
dollars. They also have a large body of timber land, which will supply 
their mill for many years. This is worth fifty thousand dollars. The mem- 
bers of the firm are men of the highest honor in their methods of busi- 
ness and in that way have gained their splendid success. They have a 
large local demand for their manufacture and also ship to outside markets. 

On the 1st of ]\Iay. 1883, Mi: Sanders was united in marriage to Miss 
Marv \\'oodin. who was born in the citv of Seattle, a daughter of Ira 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 209 

Woodin, a resident of Woodinville, Washington, which place was named 
in his honor. He came to the Sound in 1852, soon after the arrival 
of the Dennys and is one of the honored and valued pioneers of this sec- 
tion of the country. He married Susan Campbell, who was born in Port- 
land, Oregon, one of the first white people born in that district. Mr. and 
Mrs. Sanders have seven children : Guy T., William, Howard W., Ellen, 
Allen McKinley, Ruth and Esther. They have a pleasant home in Seattle 
and the family attend the Congregational church. ]\Ir. Sanders is a Re- 
publican in his political affiliations and has served as road supervisor and 
postmaster, but has never been an acti\-e politician in the sense of office 
seeking. Fraternally he is connectetl with the Modern Woodmai of Amer- 
ica. A self-made man in the best sense of the term, he has worked his way 
steadily upward in the business world, maintaining a reputation for honor 
and reliability that no man can question. 

ERNEST B. HUSSEY. 

Ernest Bertrand Hussey has had an eventful career, in which he has 
visited many sections of the globe, viewing many nations in their own lands 
and gaining broad knowledge of their ways of living. He has sailed twice 
around Cape Horn, once around the Cape of Good Hope, has twice crossed the 
Isthmus of Panama, four times crossed the United States and has been 
a resident of every continent, excepting Europe and Australia. In busi- 
ness, too, he has had a noteworthy career, and has attained to a position of 
distinction as a civil engineer. His labors in this direction have been of 
great benefit and value to Seattle and to-day he is accounted one of the 
prominent men of the city. He is now the general purchasing agent of 
the White Pass & Yukon route and is also engaged in private enterprises 
as a civil engineer. 

Mr. Hussey was l:)orn Jaiuiary 10. 1865, at sea off the coast of south 
China at the mouth of the Saigon river, on the ship Lyemoon, of which his 
father, Peter Hussey. was commander. The family is of Scotch-Irish an- 
cestry, and was founded in Nantucket, ^lassachusetts, in 1650. William 
Hussey being the progenitor of the family in America. Benjamin Franklin 
also came of the same line. Another William Hussey. the grandfather of 
our subject, married Phoebe Folger, of Nantucket, a member of the family 
to which the distinguished Judge Folger belonged. Mr. and Mrs. Hussey 
were members of the Society of Friends or Quakers and he served as one of 



290 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 01- 

the selectmen of Nantucket. He went to California at an early day and 
died there at the age of fifty years. 

Peter Hussey, the father of our subject, was bom in Nantucket and 
early in life went to sea, where he was rapidly advanced until he became com- 
mander of a ship and in that capacity he was in the merchant marine ser- 
vice during the greater part of his life. He married Miss Lavina Doane, 
a native of West Dennis, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, also descended from an 
old New England family, of English ancestry. When our subject was but 
two years of age his mother died at sea, while the vessel was on a trip around 
Cape Horn. Both parents were members of the Episcopal church. Captain 
Peter Hussey died in Japan during the fall of 1894 at the age of sixty-six 
years. 

Ernest B. Hussey was only three years of age when on a voyage with 
his father on the barque "Nellie Fogerty" the vessel burned at sea when 
three hundred miles off the South American coast, but they took to the 
boats and landed in Pernambuco, Brazil, where they were compelled to re- 
main for six months before they could get means of returning. At length, 
however, they reached New York, and the father afterward went to Cali- 
fornia, taking his son Ernest with him. He had become tired of the sea 
Hud they settled on a farm in the San Joaquin valley, but after a year the 
father again entered the merchant marine service, going to China and then 
to Japan, continuing in command of a vessel until his death, which oc- 
curred in 1894. 

Ernest B. Hussey returned from California to New Bedford, Massa- 
chusetts, and there began his school life, crossing the continent by the newly 
completed Union Pacific Railroad. After a year at school he returned to 
San Francisco by the way of the Isthmus of Panama and thence went to 
Japan, joining his father. He attended school for a time in Yokohama, 
Kobe and Nagasaki, after which he made various extended trips to Corea. 
Siberia, China, the Philippine islands and India with his father. He was 
also with him during the campaign of the Satsuma rebellion in Japan. In 
1879 he left Yokohama for New York, going by way of the Cape of Good 
Hope. He then spent four years in acquiring an education in New Bedford, 
Massachusetts, and later took up the study of civil engineering in Boston, in the 
office of E. S. Philbrick, the engineer who built the Hoosac tunnel. After this 
Mr. Hussey entered the employ of Charles A. Putnam, a civil engineer of 
Salem, Massachusetts, with whom he remained for six years. Here he ad- 
vanced to the position of chief associate, acquiring wide experience in water 
works and sewerage construction, and in municipal and railroad work 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 291 

throughout New England and also in various extensive iiarbor improve- 
ments along the Massachusetts coast. 

In the Spring of 1889 Mr. Hussey started for the Pacific coast with 
Tacoma, Washington, as his objective point, and devoted several months to 
visiting all of the Puget Sound ports, finally giving his preference to 
Seattle as the city destined to become the greatest on the Pacific coast. 
He had just become a resident of this place when the great fire of 1889 
swept over the city. In the fall of that year he entered upon the practice 
of his profession and for five months was engaged on various surveys, 
including the entire harbor frontage of Seattle and Elliott Bay. He was 
also engaged in various land surveys throughout the western part of the 
state, and in the spring of 1890 he opened an office as a civil engineer, con- 
tinuing until the spring of 1892, at which time he accepted the office of 
general superintendent of the Union Tnmk Line, constructing several of 
its extensions. He resigned that position in the spring of 1895 to again 
resume the private practice of his profession, opening his office in the Dexter 
Horton office building, where he has since remained. In the spring of 1898 
the White Pass & Yukon route, with E. C. Hawkins as chief engineer, es- 
tablished headquarters in Mr. Hussey's ofiice, and he immediately became 
actively connected with the purchase of supplies and the equipment for the 
entire system, and has since remained with the company in his present ca- 
pacity. To him can credit be justly given for being instrumental in the 
establishment of Seattle as the base of supplies for that Company in the 
construction of its railroad in the far north, and the locating of their Pacific 
coast offices here. Mr. Hussey is also engaged in various other enterprises, 
in all of which it is his design to make Seattle headquarters, thus promot- 
ing the business prosperity of the city. 

Mr. Hussey has taken a very deep interest in Freemasonry. He was 
made a blaster Mason in Star King Lodge, of Salem, ^Massachusetts, in 
1886, and was senior deacon of his lodge at the time of his removal from 
Salem. He attained to the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite in 
Massachusetts Consistory of Boston, in 1887, and has held office in all 
of the branches of the order. He affiliated with the Scottish Rite branches 
in Seattle in 1894 and was elected to the thirty-third degree in the fall of 
1897, but could not take the degree until he was thirty-three years of age, 
so that it was conferred upon him in 1898. He was one of the youngest 
Masons that has ever received this degree, it being conferred upon him by 
special dispensation of the supreme council. He received the decoration 
of the Grand Cross at the hands of the Supreme Council in 1895, there 



292 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

being only three elected every two years. He is head of the order in this 
section and is deputy inspector general of the state of Washington and 
territory of Alaska. In politics Mr. Hussey has been a life-long Democrat, 
btit is not an office-seeker or office-holder. 

In December, 1890, was celebrated the marriage of Air. Hussey and 
Miss Carrie Louise Brokaw, a native of Romulus, New York. She is of 
English and French Huguenot stock, and by her marriage she has become 
the mother of three sons: Bertrand Brokaw, Kenneth Peter and Wilfred 
Ernest. Mrs. Hussey is a valued member of St. Mark's Episcopal church, 
and is also a member of the Society of Daughters of the American Revolu- 
tion. Mr. Hussey received Episcopalian baptism in Japan and with his 
family attends that church. His record in all his undertakings is one of 
high honor and of successful accomplishment. He has become widely known 
as a reliable business man. 

JOHN P. HOWE. 

Probably no name is more widely known in connection with the the- 
atrical business of the Pacific coast than that of John P. Howe, for through 
thirty-one years it has appeared upon the programs of different theaters of 
which he has served as manager. Mr. Howe was born in Wayne county, 
Ohio, on the 22d of August, 1849, ^"fl is of English ancestry. The family 
was founded in America during the colonial epoch in its history and repre- 
sentatives of the name loyally aided in the long war which brought independ- 
ence to the nation. His grandfather, Samuel Howe, was born in Virginia, 
possessed splendid musical talent and was a very prominent and successful 
teacher of music. In 1818 he left the south, removing to Ohio. He was a 
cousin of General Robert E. Lee, and he attained the age of se\-enty years, 
while his wife lived to be about the same age. Their son, John Hiram Howe, 
the father of our subject, was born in Wayne county, Ohio, in 1826, and was 
for many years a prominent dry-goods merchant, his careful conduct of his 
business bringing to him splendid success. He married Miss Matilda Slid- 
ing, of Pennsylvania, who was of German lineage, her ancestors ha\ing been 
early settlers of Pennsylvania. Both Mr. and Airs. Howe >vere members of 
the Presbyterian church and shaped their lives by its teaching. His death 
occurred when he was fifty-two years of age, while his wife, long surviving 
him, reached the advanced age of seventy-two years. They were the parents 
of three children: R. N.. a resident of Portland. Oregon: Noble P. and 
John P. 



\ 





//^^/i/i'^^n^.^ 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 293 . 

The last named was educated in the pubhc schools of Minneapolis and 
in Seabury College, and has been continuously connected with theatrical busi- 
ness since 1869. He is one of the oldest theater managers west of' the Rocky 
]\Iountains, having given his entire attention to the business through the past 
thirty-one years. He has probably controlled more theaters than any other 
man on the Pacific coast. Between the years 1884 and 1891 he had control 
of the Northern Pacific Theatrical situation, besides all the first-class the- 
atrical business of Portland, Oregon, Seattle, Tacoma and Walla XValla, 
Washington, and Victoria, British Columbia, together with that of a number 
of smaller cities. He was lessee and proprietor of the Columbia and Alcazar 
theaters of San Francisco during the years 1894-5. He has also owned and 
controlled M. Quad's funny play, Yoke, which Mr. Howe brought to the 
Pacific coast in 1880. He afterward was manager of W. E. Sheridan, the 
great tragedian, in King Lear, Louis VH and a repertoire of Shakespearean 
plays, and since then he has assumed the management of the Seattle theater. 
His efforts have met with phenomenal success. The theacer was built in 
1892. at the northwest corner of Cherry street and Third avenue, at a cost of 
!f 1 50,000, and is a beautiful structure. It is strictly a Seattle institution, 
being a product of the city's enterprise and capital. Fire-proof and sub- 
stantially built, as well as being of a pleasing style of architecture, it is the 
equal of any first-class theater on the coast in both design and interior finish- 
ing and decorating. Mr. Howe assumed the management in 1898, since 
which time the citizens of Seattle have taken pride as well as pleasure in this 
excellent place of amusement and the play-loving people are to be congrat- 
ulated that a manager of such ability as ^Ir. Howe is in charge of this 
attractive house. 

In 1882 occurred the marriage of Mr. Howe and Miss Mary Ella Shef- 
fie!d, who was born in Vancou\-er, Washington, and is a daughter of A. H. 
Sheffield, a pioneer who went to Vancouver with Captain U. S. Grant and 
was also well acquainted with General Sheridan, who was then lieutenant, 
while the future president was only commander of a company, both he and 
General Sheridan being stationed at Vancouver. Mr. Shcfifield served as 
sheriff' for some years and was one of the well known and leading pioneers of 
the state. Unto our subject and his wife have been born two children: 
John Pardee. Jr.. now a student in the Washington Military College, and 
Oueenie Bessie, at school. They have a nice home on Queen Ann Hill, and 
their circle of friends in the city is extensive. Mr. Howe is popular in busi- 
ness circles and is widely and favorably known all over the Pacific coast. 



294 REPRESENTATIVE CmZENS OF 

COLONEL ALDEN J. BLETHEN. 

In this age of colossal enterprise and marked intellectual energy, the 
prominent and successful men are those whose abilities, persistence and 
courage lead them into large undertakings and assume responsibilities and 
labors of leaders in their respective vocations. Success is methodical and 
consecutive, and howexer much we may indulge in fantastic theorizing as 
to its elements and causation in any isolated instance, yet in the light of 
sober investigation we will find it to be but a result of the determined appli- 
cation of one's abilities and powers along the rigidly defined line of labor. 
America owes much of her progress and advancement to a position 
foremost among tlie nations of the world to her newspapers, and in no line 
has the incidental broadening out of the sphere of usefulness been more 
marked than in this same line of journalism. Seattle, the city man-eious, 
has enlisted in its newspaper field some of the strongest intellects in the 
nation — men of broad mental grasp, cosmopolitan ideas and notable busi- 
ness sagacity. 

Pru'.ninent among the men who have gi\-en the city prestige in this 
direction must be placed Colonel Alden J. Blethen, the subject of this re- 
view. His identification with the "art preservative of all arts" is one of 
personal predilection, and though he has intermittently turned his attention 
lo enterprises of a different nature, still, true to the instincc said to charac- 
lerize every newspaper man, he inevitably returned to the work, strengthened 
and re-enforced by the experiences which were gained outside. 

Colonel Blethen is the editor-in-chief of The Seattle Daily and Sunday 
Times and comes of one of the oldest families of this country, his ancestry 
tracing back to 1680, when representatives of the name located at Ipswich, 
Massachusetts. 

As a rule the men of the family have devoted their energies to either 
agricultural or sea-faring pursuits. The paternal grandmother was a sec- 
ond cousin of Ethan Allen, the gallant Vermont general, who led the Green 
Mountain boys to victory in the capture of Fort Ticonderoga. 

Again the family was represented by loyal service in the Civil war, 
three brothers of our subject joining the Union army. Allen served for 
three years in the Army of the Cumberland and participated in the notable 
battles of Chickamauga. Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge and Frank- 
lin. 

Charles Edward died from the result of injuries sustained at the battle 
of Cedar Creek where Earlv surprised Sheridan "twentv miles away." 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 295 

James L. was wounded at Gettysburg and served his country till the close. 

Colonel Blethen is a native of Maine, having been born at Knox, Waldo 
county, on December 27, 1846, his parents being Alden and Abbie L. Blethen. 
After acquiring a common-school education he entered W'esleyan Seminary 
and College, where he was graduated in 1868, and in 1872 he won the de- 
gree of Master of Arts, at Bowdoin College. He then took up the profes- 
sion of teaching and was lessee and principal of the Abbott Family School 
from 1869 until 1873. 

At the same time he carried on the study of law and was admitted to 
the bar of the state of Maine in the latter year, establishing an office in Port- 
land. He there engaged in practice until 1880, when on account of ill 
health he removed to Kansas City, Missouri, where he entered upon the 
\-ocation for which he is so admirably fitted. For four years he was editor 
and manager of the well known Kansas City Journal, at the conclusion of 
which time he removed to Minneapolis, where his field was enlarged by pur- 
chasing an interest in two prominent papers there — The Tribune and The 
Journal. He served as editor of the Tribune and manager of the Journal 
until 1888, when he sold his interest in those papers for two hundred and 
fifty thousand dollars spot cash. 

Having a decided liking as well as a special ability for newspaper work. 
Colonel Blethen repurchased the Tribune the following year, but fire de- 
stroyed the building in November of the same year and he thus suffered a 
loss of one hundred thousand dollars. Nothing daunted, he set to work to 
build in 1890, erecting the new Tribune building at a cost of one hundred 
thousand dollars, but the great financial panic of 1893 followed so closely 
after the fire that it brought disaster to him as it did to so many others and 
he lost all that he had saved. 

While there he took an active interest in military affairs and ser\-ed as 
colonel on the staffs of both Governor Nelson and Governor Clough. He 
had enlisted at the time of the Civil war, but as he was the youngest of 
the family and there were three other brothers at the front, his mother — 
a widow — induced him to remain at home. 

After his financial failure, desiring to begin anew in the newspaper 
field. Colonel Blethen came to Seattle and in 1896 he purchased the plant of 
a bankrupt paper. It was housed on Yesler Way, in a room not adapted 
or adequate for the publication of a newspaper, and he soon removed the 
plant to more conspicuous quarters in the Boston block, witii a circulation of 
thirty-five hundred of a four-page paper. He increased this over fifty-six 
per cent in the first year and The Times has since steadily grown until its 



296 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

circulation is about thirty tliousand of a twenty-paged paper. This rapid 
antl steady increase again demanded more commodious Cfuarters and in 
1 90 1 arrangements were made for the construction of a building erected 
specially for The Times. Realizing the trend of business northward, Col- 
onel Blethen decided upon the corner of Second avenue and Union street. 

Many of his friends laughed at him for going so far away from what 
was then considered the business center, but even the brief space of time 
which has since elapsed has proven the wisdom of his step. Here a building 
was erected four stories in height, including the basement, which is eigh- 
teen feet in the clear. The building is sixty by one hundred feet. 

The business offices and mailing room are on the main floor. There 
are twenty offices on the second floor and the entire top floor is occupied 
by the editorial, news and reportorial department and the type-setting room. 

In the last named are ten type-setting machines and in addition many 
men are engaged in compiling what is known as other than "straight mat- 
ter." The large "Quad" Hoe press in the basement turns out a folded 
paper of thirty-two pages in a single run, and the supplementary press of 
twenty-four pages supply the additional pages of the great Sunday and 
magazine paper which it had long been Colonel Blethen's dream to produce. 

The first copy was issued February 9, 1902, and thus he put into work- 
ing force the idea which he had long entertained and which is the crowning 
glory of his other successes in building up such a splendid paper as he has 
made of The Times. Taking the month of May, 1902, for example, some 
idea of the magnitude of the business may be had from the fact that the ex- 
penses were twenty-four thousand eight hundred and sixty dollars and over 
two hundred and sixty thousand pounds of paper were used. 

Employment is given to one hundred and fourteen persons, beside the 
services of eighty-three carriers which are recjuired. 

It would be a work of supererogation to attempt in this connection to 
enter into details concerning the history of The Times or to note the specific 
points which have marked the growth of the enterprise and the brilliant ac- 
complishment of the man who directed its destinies. These matters stand 
forth in their own exemplification and further comment in that direction is 
unnecessary. A local publication said : 

"With matchless energy and foresight Colonel Blethen has made it the 
greatest evaiing daily on the Pacific coast and has devoted it as a mighty 
instrumait for the upbuilding of Seattle. There is not at this time a better 
or more elegantly equipped newspaper plant west of Chicago than that from 





% r r e f 




^a^-^^?^ 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 297 

which The Seattle Times is issued, all the result of the indefatigable energy 
of Colonel Blethen." 

At Farmington, Maine, on the 12th of March, 1869, Colonel Blethen 
was united in marriage to Miss Rose, a daughter of Captain David F. 
Hunter, a grand-daughter of David Hunter, wdio came from Scotland to 
America and was one of the early settlers of northeastern Maine. Four 
children have been born of this marriage, two sons and two daughters. Jo- 
seph, the eldest, is managing editor of The Times and the secretary and 
treasurer of The Times Printing Company. Clarence B. is the general news 
manager and the daughters are Florence A. and Marian R. 

In 1900 Colonel Blethen erected a fine residence at No. 519 Highland 
Drive, which is not only an elegant and substantial home, but is an ornament 
to the city of his adoption. 

The Colonel is the president of the board of regents of the State Uni- 
versity, in which position his executive ability is of great service. He is also 
a member of the Chamber of Commerce. He has taken an active interest 
in Masonic work in the past, in which he has advanced through the various 
degrees until he is now a thirty-third degree Mason. 

Whatever tends to prove of public good receives his hearty co-operation 
and aid. He is foremost in advocating whatever he believes is for the ben- 
efit of the city. His charity is wide but entirely unostentatious and though 
his benex'olences have been many, they are often known only to the recipient. 
He stands to-day as a high type of American manhood, progressive, pur- 
poseful and strong to perform. . 

GEORGE M. STEWART. 

On the roster of Seatle's officials appears the name of George M. Stew- 
art, who is filling the position of postmaster and is also known as a prominent 
Inisiness man here. He was born in Elmira, New York, May 16. 1852, and 
is of Scotch-Irish lineage. His father, George Stewart, wns born in Scot- 
land and in 1827 became a resident of Canada,, where he was engaged in 
supplying contracts for timber used in the construction of men of war. He 
followed that business for a number of years and in 1850 returned to the old 
country and then came to Canada, where later he turned his attention to farm- 
ing. In early life he endorsed the faith of the Presbyterian church, but 
afterward became identified with the Methodist church and aided in building 
a house of worship. He remained one of its most earnest, valued and ac- 



298 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

ceptable members until called to liis liiial h<imo in uS^j. IVior to coming to 
America lie married Miss Jane llrnce. a lady of Scotch lineage, who was born 
in the north of Ireland. She Iimi was a most earnest and consistent Christian 
and by her marriage she became the mother of seven sons and three daughters. 
Her death occurred in 1875 when she was sixty-four years of age. Three of 
the children have been called to the home beyond and three are living on the 
Pacific coast, while four are in Canada. One of the sons, Alexander B. 
Stewart, is prominently engaged in the drug business in Seattle. A. M. 
Stewart is a druggist in Tacoma. and our subject is interested in the under- 
taking business in Seattle, as a member of the firm of Bonney & Stewart. 

In the public schools, George M. Stewart obtained his education and 
when fourteen years of age came to tlie Pacific coast, making his way to Cali- 
fornia, in order that a change of climate might benefit his health. He was 
small antl rather delicate at that time and the change did pro\e advantageous. 
He developed a strong and robust manhood that has proved an excellent 
foundation for his business activity in recent years. He attended school in 
San Francisco and subsequently engaged in clerking in a store there. Later 
he removed to Virginia City, Nevada, where he was engaged in general mer- 
chandising for eight years, meeting with gratifying success. He was married 
there in 1880 to Miss Mary Klupfer, but the wife of his choice and of his 
youth was only spared to him seventeen months and he was left with a little 
• laughter, Mary Veronica, who is now in school at San Alateo, Cjilifornia. 
Two years after the death of his first wife, Mr. Stewart wedded Miss Katie 
Parkinson, a native of San F'rancisco. Her father, R. R. Parkinson, was a 
California pioneer of 1849, S"<^' ^^r thirty-six }ears was the editor of a 
news]:)aper in Carson City. He was a native of England and in religious 
faith was an Episcopalian, while his ijolitical support was given the Repub- 
lican party. Mr. and Mrs. Stew;irt now h.ive two daughters. Helen Mar- 
garet, and (iladys Mae. 

For some time Mr. Stowart was a traveling salesman, representing Hall, 
Luhrs & Company, proprietors of a wholesale house of Sacremento, for 
which he traveled six years throughout the states of California, Nevada, 
l.'tah and Oregon, having a very large patronage which brought to the house 
an extensive business. Tn 1889 he came to Seattle and jiurchased the interest 
of Mr. Shorey in the firm of Shorey & Company, inidertakers, at which time 
the name was changed to Bonney & Stewart. They were burned out in the 
great fire in 1889, since which time they have erected a large brick Iniilding, 
planned esi)ccially for their Imsiness at the corner of Third avenue and Colum- 
bia street. Thev have managed their business, with great r.uccess ami now 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 299 

ntand at the head in this Hue in Seattle. They have the hest planned and 
most attractively tnrnished undertaking parlors in the west, or perhaps in 
die United States. They are mai of much public enterprise, taking an 
interest in every laudable movement or measure in the city. It has been wise- 
iv said that "the liberal man deviseth liberal things and by liberal things he 
Fliall stand" and this has been verified in the case of Mr. Stewart and his 
partner. He is a man of resourceful business ability and his efforts have not 
been limited to one line, for he is interested in various other business enter- 
prises. He is now the president of the Queen Oil Company of Kem county, 
California, and with the firm owns considerable stock in a gold mine in 
Sonora, which his partner, Mr. Bonney, is operating successfully. 

Mr. Stewart is a valuetl member of several fraternal organizations, in- 
cluding the Knights of Pythias Lodge of Seattle, of which he is past chan- 
cellor. He has filled all of the chairs in both the subordinate lodge and en- 
campment of the Odd Fellows society and is treasurer of the Grand Court 
of Foresters of the state of Washington. He also holds membership rela- 
tions with the Fraternal Brotlierhood, the Ancient Order of United Work- 
men, and the Royal Arcanum. He owns one of the nice homes of the city, 
located at the corner of Seventeenth and Madison streets and he and his fami- 
ly are highly respected here, enjoying the hospitality of many of the best 
residents of Seattle. Every movement, measure or interest which elicits the 
approval of Mr. Stewart also receives from him earnest support and it is 
therefore that he is known as an active member of the Republican party, his 
labors making him a leader in the organization in the state. He was treas- 
urer of the Republican state central committee for four years and for a num- 
ber of years served on the central committee of the city, doing all in his power 
to promote the growth and secure the success of Republican principles. In 
consideration of his efforts for the party and his effective labors in its behalf, 
>':s well as his fitness for the oiifice, President McKinley appointed him to the 
position of postmaster of .Seattle, and the nomination being confirmed by the 
senate he took charge of the office on the ist of January, 1900. The post- 
f-'ffice is well arranged, and the service is highly satisfactory to the citizens of 
Seattle. The business is growing rapidly ; in the year previous to his in- 
cumbency the receipts were ninety-three thousand dollars, and in the year 
1901, amounted to two hundred and four thousand dollars, making an in- 
crea.se of more than double in two years, which is an excellent showing for the 
growth of the city, and also indicates that the duties of the postmaster are 
v>nerous. In his official course, however. Mr. Stewart is indicating that the 
confidence reposed in him .-ind in his abililv was not misplaced, for mi more 



300 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

capable official has e\er been in charge of the postoffice at Seattle. /Vs a 
citizen he is public spirited and progressive and in private life he commands 
that confidence and esteem which is always accorded to true unrth. 

ELBERT F. BLAINE. 

With many of the leading measures resulting in the rapid development 
of the city of Seattle Mr. Blaine has been identified, and his efforts have 
been such that they have not only won him a place among the prominent 
people of the city, but have also contributed in a large medsure to the gen- 
eral improvement and development of the city along lines of substantial 
advancement. 

At the bar and in the handling of business interests, Mr. Blaine has 
become a factor in the life of Seattle, where he has made his home since 
1885 and where he is now a member of the Denny-Blaine Land Company. 

A native of Romulus, Seneca county, New York, Elbert F. Blaine was 
born on the 26th day of June, 1857, and is of Scotch-Irish lineage, his an- 
cestors on his father's side having emigrated from the old world to the 
state of Pennsylvania long prior to the Revolutionai-y war. His great- 
grandfather lived at Milton, Pennsylvania, and at this place his grandfather 
and father were born. His grandfather emigrated to the state of New York 
when James Blaine, the father of this subject, was four years old. James 
Blaine was a farmer by occupation and a man of the highest respectability. 
He filled various offices of honor and trust, and while not a member of any 
church he was always an active worker therein. He married Amanda De- 
Pue, a native of New York, and they became the parents of eleven children, 
eight of whom are yet living. The father reached the venerable age of 
eighty-three years, passing away in 1893, and the good wife lately died in 
lier eighty-third year. 

Mr. Blaine, of Seattle, is the only member of the family residing on 
the Sound. He completed his literary education in the Valparaiso (Indiana) 
Normal School, and afterwards took up the study of law in the Union Law 
School, at Albany, New York, in which institution he was graduated with 
the class of 1882. He was then admitted to the bar in New York, and 
removed to Huron, Dakota, and subsequently to Minnesota. He arrived 
in Washmgton in 1884, settling in Tacoma ; the following year he moved 
to Seattle and took charge of the old Michigan sawmill a! Belltown. On 
the first day of January, 1886, he took up the practice of law, entering into 
partnership with the Hon. John J. McGilvra, of Seattle, which relationship 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 301 

was maintained for several years, during which time the firm enjoyed a 
large and important business. Lee DeVries became a member of the firm 
and some time afterwards Mr. McGalvra retired and the firm name was 
'.hen changed to Blaine & DeVries, tliis continuing until 1899. During Mr. 
Blaine's early practice of law no case was too small or unimportant for his 
consideration. However small the case he never neglected it, his motto 
being that whatever one undertakes to do, do well. When he liad determ- 
ined that his client was on the side of right, he would never give up until 
he had employed every honorable means in his power to establish his posi- 
tion. He thus won a reputation as a painstaking, thorough and capable 
lawyer, and by degrees the practice of the firm increased until the time 
and energy of its members were taxed to the utmost. Through the influence 
of the late Arthur A. Denny, a very large clientage was secured from the 
old settlers of the city of Seattle and it fell to their lot to administer many 
of their estates. In the practice of his profession, Mr. Blame says he was 
successful in a degree greater than he ever dreamed he would be, and his 
ability as a lawyer is indicated by the fact of the few cases lost to the many 
won for his clients, and the legal business entrusted to his care, for many 
years, has been of the most important character. 

Owing to press of business, Mr. Blaine has given veiw little time to 
political work. In national and state politics he is a Democrat, but in munici- 
pal affairs he believes that there should not be too much partisanism. In 
the upbuilding of Seattle he has ever taken an active part, believing from 
the ver}' beginning of his acquaintance with the town that it was destined 
to have a great future. In 1899 the Denny-Blaine Land Company was 
formed, composed of Charles L. Denny and Elbert F. Blaine. At this 
time the health of the Hon. .Vrthur A. Denny was very much impaired and 
the new firm practically took charge of his large estate and since his death 
Mr. Blaine has been the attorney for the estate, which is being managed in 
ihe office of the Denny-Blaine Land Company. Through the efforts of 
our subject the Yakima Investment Company was reorganized, the property 
being acquired by the Washington Irrigation Company, and since that time 
Mr. Blaine has given much of his attention and energy to the control of its 
affairs. For a number of years the firm operated the Grant street car line. 
The Denny-Blaine Land Company has purchased and improver! a number 
of tracts of land, notably one which is now the Denny-Blaine Lake Park, 
one of the veiy finest additions to the city of Seattle, and they are inter- 
ested in various other enterprises. 

Mr. Blaine was married in 1882, to Miss Minerva Stone, a native of 



302 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

Seneca, New York, a (lau,i;luer of John l\. Slone, of llial county, and a 
representative of one of the old American faniihes. They now have one 
son, James Arthur. Tlicirs is one of Seattle's l:)eautiful and attractive res- 
idences, located in the Denny-Blaine Lake Park. Mr. Hlaine is a nienihcr 
of several secret orders and his wife is a member of the Trinity I'.piscopal 
church. For a number of years Mr. Blaine has taken a .^reat interest in 
the upbuilding- of the University of the state of Washing-ton. Lately he has 
become president of the board of park coibmissioners of the city of Seattle 
and he and his associates have succeeded in creating- such a ])ublic senti- 
ment in la\or of parks that a large sum of money has l)ceu appropriated 
by the citv council for the establishment of a magnificent park and boulevard 
system in Seattle and the comniencement of work thereon. His life has 
been one of untiring activity and has been crowned with a high measure of 
success. He is possessed of great energy, is quick of perception and forms 
his plans readily. He has the will power and the courage to tarr\- them 
forward to successful com])letion and to-day he ranks among the leading 
business men of the northwest and capable of controlling interests of great 
magnitude. 

J. W. C.ODWIX. 

In past ages the history of a country was the record of wars and con- 
quests ; to-day it is the record of commercial activity, and those whose names 
are foremost in its annals are the leaders in business circles. The conquests 
now made are those of mind over matter, not man over man, and the victor 
is he who can successfully establish, control and operate extensive commer- 
cial interests. J. W. Godwin is one of the strong and influential men whose 
lives have become an essential ]wrt of the history of Seattle and the west. 
Tireless eriergy, keen perceptiou. honesty of pur]jose. genius for dcxising 
and executing the right thing ;it the right time, joined to evcry-day 
common sense, guided by great will jiowcr. are the chief character- 
istics of the man. Comiected with one of the wholesale coiumission 
houses of Seattle, the i)lace th;it he nc(.ui)ics in business circles is in the 
front rank. He is president and manager of the J. W. Godwin Company, 
controlling one of the largest commission houses of this city, and is also 
president of the Fisher's L'nion of Alaska. l;irgely engaged in the canning 
of salmon. 

Mr. Godwin is a native of the Old Dominion, his birth having occurred 
in Bloxom, Accomack countv, Virginia, on the 2y\ of August, i860. He 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 3"3 

i? descended from one of the old families of that state of English lineage. 
Se\eral generations of the family, however, have resided in this country 
and were well known as planters in Virginia. O. W. (iodwin. the father of 
our suhject, was there reared and educated and after attaining Ui man's estate 
married Miss Elizaheth r.lcixnm, a lady ui Irish descent, also belonging to 
one of the old Virginian families. Both Mr. and Mrs. Godwin were mem- 
bers of the Baptist church. In his political faith he was a Democrat and 
a gentleman of sterling wurlli, reliable in all oi life's relations. He was 
called to his final rest in his seventv-fourth vear and his wife passed awa\' in 
her si.xty-iifth year. They were the parents nf thirteen children, of wlmm 
seven are yet living. 

J. W. Godwin, who is the only member of the family in Washington, 
was educated in the public schools of his native city. He remained with his 
father until his twentieth vear. after which he engaged in clerking in a st(jre 
for two years and then went tn the cit\' of Philadelphia, where he became 
connected with the commission business, familiarizing himself with the meth- 
ods of carrying on i;)perations along that line. He had been associated with 
trade in the city fnr four )ears prior to his arrival in Seattle. Believing that 
there were gond business possibilities in the northwest he resolved to become 
an active factor in trade circles in this state and removing to Washington he 
established a wholesale commission business, which has grown in volume 
and iiuportance until it exceeds that of any other house in the city. Mr. God- 
win is the president and manager of the company and its splendid success is 
attributable in a large measure to his efYorts. He is likewise the president of 
the fisher's union of Alaska, extensively engaged in the canning of salmon. 
He has made large investments in city property and has been one of the build- 
ers of this attractive municipality of the northwest. He was alone in the 
commission business from the time of his arrival in 1890 until 1894. at which 
time the present company was incorporated and since that time he has been at 
its head. The firm has acquired extended popularity as we!! as a large busi- 
ness and its trade covers much of British Columbia and Alaska, as well as 
ihe state of Washington. The company largely imports bananas from cen- 
ral America, distributing them over the districts mentioned. His realty in- 
vestments ha\e been judiciously placed and he has bought and sold consider- 
able city property. His block on First avenue is a brick one, sixty by one 
hundred and twenty feet, which was built for stores and is thus occupied on 
the first floor, while the remaintler is used for liotel purposes. Mr. Godwin 
has also built and sold a number of residences in the citv and is credited with 



304 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

having done his share toward the inipnnenieiit and substantial ])i"ogress of 
Seattle. 

In 1892 occurred the niariage of our subject and Miss Ella Dickinson, 
the wedding- being celebrated in Philadelphia, of which city the lady is a 
native. Her father, Lea L. Dickinson, belongs to the cdebrated Dickinson 
family of the Keystone state. Mr. and Mrs. Godwin have a nice residence 
in Seattle and the circle of their friends is a large one. He is a Royal Arch 
Mason, having been a valued member of the craft since 1881 and at the 
present time he is a past master. In politics he is Democrat and sands 
high in the ranks of his party, but has never been an ofifice seeker, as the 
claims which his business makes upon his time are too extensive to admit of 
much outside work. The character and position of Mr. Godwin illustrates 
most happily for the purpose of this work the fact that if a young man be 
posses.sed of the proper attributes of mind and heart he can unaided attain to 
a point of unmistakable precedence in the business world. His career proves 
that the only true success in life is that which is accomplished by personal 
effort and constant industry. 

JOHN ARTHUR. 

For a number of years a distinguished member of the legal profession, 
Mr. Arthur is a leader in thought and action in the public life of the state. 
His name is a familiar one in political and professional circles throughout 
Washington. By reason of his marked intellectual activity he is well fitted 
to aid in moulding the policy of a new state and forming its public opinion. 

ATr. Arthur is a native of the Green Isle of Erin, his birth having oc- 
curred there near the town of Ennis, county Clare, on the 20th of June, 
1849. He is of English and Irish ancestry. His father, Thomas Arthur, 
was also born in Ireland, and was descended from a prominent old English 
family, which, with the ancestors of the famous General Wolfe, the hero of 
Quebec, the Whites, Melvilles, Stackpooles, Martins, and others, formed a 
strong colony of landholders in the counties of Limerick and Clare. Presi- 
dent Arthur was a member of this family. Thomas Artluir, the father of 
him. whose name introduces this review, removed in i860 to England, and 
in 1863 to the United States. With his wife and seven children he settled 
in McKean county, Pennsylvania, where he died at the age of eighty-five 
vears ; his widow is still living, aged eighty-seven years. 

John .\rthur received his education in Ireland, England and the United 
States, lie began his legal studies in Erie, Pennsylvania, under the pre- 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 305 

ceptorship of Hon. John P. Vincent, ex-Judge of the Erie judicial district. 
Later he became a student in tlie Columbian University, at Washington, D. C, 
where he completed both the regular and post-graduate courses, of two years 
each. At the close of his second year he received the degree of Master of 
Laws, and was awarded the first prize for producing the best essay upon 
a legal subject. The prize was delivered to him in the presence of the presi- 
dent of the United States and his cabinet and the judges of the supreme 
court; the presentation l)eing made by the solicitor-general, in behalf r>f the 
attorney-general, who complimented Air. Arthur on his able and schol- 
arly production, and soon thereafter moved his admission to practice before 
the supreme court of the United States. Mr. Arthur resigned a legal posi- 
tion under the government and opened a law office in Washington, D. C, 
where he continued to practice until ]\Iarch, 1883, when he lemoved to 
Puget Sound to accept the attorneyship for the Tacoma Land Company, 
with headquarters at Tacoma, but passing a large part of the time in Seattle, 
where he has resided continuously since April 18, 1887. He has been for 
over fourteen years the secretary of the King County Bar Association, and 
has been president of the Washington State Bar Association. Li Erie he was 
president of the city board of license commissioners. In Seattle, in 1891. 
he was elected president of the state board of University land and building 
commissioners. In politics he is a Republican, and has served his party as 
chairman of the King county central committee. 

In the year 1880 Mr. Arthur was happily married to Miss Amy A. 
Lane, a native of Erie county, Pennsylvania, but at that time a resident of 
Philadelphia. Their only child, Chester W., died in the city of Washington. 

In Masonic circles Mr. Arthur has borne an active part. He was made 
a Alaster Mason in St. John's Lodge, No. 9, of Seattle, and soon became its 
master. He has taken all the degrees in the York and Scottish Rite, and 
has served as potentate of Afifi Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Tacoma. 
He is Grand Master of Masons in the state of Washington. 

WILLIAM JAMES. 

Practical industry, wisely and vigorovisly applied, never fails in secur- 
ing a due measure of success, and the well known and able business man of 
whom this sketch is written has given in his career an exemplification of the 
truth of the statement, and he is now incumbent of the responsible position of 
assistant superintendent of the Renton coal mines, representing one of the 
important industrial enterprises of King county. To Mr. James belongs 



3o6 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

tlie distinction n\ l^'ini;- unc of the sterling- pioneers of tlie I'acilic coast, and 
in this section of the Union he lias passed practically his entire life, growing 
lip under the in\ igorating environments and scenes of the pioneer epoch and 
developing that sturdy self-reliance and self-respect which have made for the 
attainment of success and which have gained lo him uneciui^dcal respect and 
esteem in an objective wa}'. 

Mr. James is a native of the island of Scilly, where he was born on the 
tSth of Augiist. 1845. li's parents dying while he was a mere child, having 
been of stanch old Welsh stock. He was taken into the home of relatives 
and with them, when but nine years of age. in 1854. he came to California, 
the trip being m;ide by way of the Isthmus of Panama, and they settled at- 
Marysville. where he received linn'ted education.!] adxantages. tiie school 
system in that locality at the time h;i\ing l)een \erv crude and primiti\e. 
Thus he may be said to be self-educated, even as he has beai tlistinctively the 
architect of his (nvn fortunes, having been dependent upon his own resources 
from his boyhootl. He became identified with the mining industry in Marys- 
ville and vicinity and there remained until 1862. when he went to \e\ada. 
where he was engaged in a similar line of work for the ensuing six years, thus 
becoming thoroughly familiar with the wild life of the minmg camps of the 
frontier during the early days when civilization maintained a precarious focjt- 
hold in this isolated section of the Union. During the greater portion of his 
residence in Nevada he was identified with (|uartz mining, bin he later passed 
two years in the coal mines of Mount Diablo. California. At the expiration 
of this period Mr. James went to Illinois and was for a time identilied with 
coal mining in La Salle county, after which he returned to the west antl was 
engaged in mining in different sections of Wyoming until 1876, when he 
came to the Newcastle coal mines, in King county. Washington. Here he 
opened the Franklin mine and was also employed as sujjrintendent at the 
Oilman mine for about two years, and since th;it time has had charge of the 
operation of the Renton mine, w hich is now a \ery large producer, and he has 
also had charge of the development of t)ther important coal mines in this 
locality. In fact it may be said without fe;u" of contradiction that no man 
in the state of Washington has l)een more ])roniinentlv and intim;Uely con- 
cerned in the developing of the coal mining industry than has Mr. James, 
while his long experience and thorough technical knowledge have gained him 
a. high reputation as one of the best mine operators in this section, and his 
able and faithful services have won for him the respect and confidence of 
those in whose service he has been enlisted and also of those over whom he 
has been placed in charge. The mine which he opened at .\daville. Wyom- 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 307 

ing-. had a vein of coal eiglity-three feet thick, and tliis was one of tlie import- 
imt coal propositions which owed its development to his effective labors. 

In politics Mr. James is a stalwart Republican, and fraternally he is 
identified with the Masonic order, holding membership in St. John's Lodge 
No. 9, which was one of the first organized in the city of Seattle. In 1868, 
Mr. James was united in marriage to Miss Mary James, the two families not 
being related. She was born in the state of Michigan, and of this union 
two children have been bom, Richard H. and James W., both of whom are 
able and popular young tradesmen of Renton, where the family have a 
pleasant home and where Mr. James is the owner of se\eral other residence 
l)roperties, taking a tlue interest in all that makes for tlie advancement and ma- 
terial prosperity of his home town, where he has lived for so many years and 
where he is accorded the highest confidence and esteem. Mrs. James is a 
member of the Methodist Episcopal church and she has prov'ed to her hus- 
band a true and devoted helpmeet and companion during the happy married 
life of nearly thirty-five years. 

CHARLES A. KOEPFLI. 

Charles A. Koepfli, now acceptably serving as county clerk of King 
county and ex-officio clerk of the superior court of the state of Washington 
for the county of King, is one of the leaders of the Republican party in his 
section, his large acquaintance and unbounded popularity giving him an in- 
fluential following, while his shrewd judgment of men and aft'airs makes his 
counsel of value in all important movements. In business circles he also 
takes a foremost rank. 

A native of Iowa, Mr. Koepfli was born in Dubuque, on the loth of 
June, 1854, his parents being Theodore F. and Mina (Benson) Koepfli, who 
were born in Germany of Swiss ancestry. On his emigration to .\merica 
the father located in Duinique, Iowa, where he engaged in merchandising 
for sex'cral years. He dei)arted this life in the sixty-third year of his age, 
but his wife still survives him and is now in her sixty-sixth year. Unto 
them were born two sons, the older being Adolph H.. a resident of Dubuque. 

Charles A. Koepfli, the younger son, was reared and educated in his 
native town, and there engaged in the grocery business with his father for 
some years. Coming west in December, 1889, he located in Seattle, Wash- 
ington, and embarked in the undertaking business under the name of the 
Seattle Undertaking Company, of which he is still a stockholder, president 
and manager. His place of business is at lou anil 1014 Third avenue, and 



3o8 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

he is meeting" with good success in that venture, heing thoroughly rchable 
and honorable in all things. 

The Republican party has always found in Mr. Koeptli a stanch sup- 
porter of its principles, and he has taken a very active part in promoting its 
interests. In 1900 his name was placed on the ticket as candidate for coun- 
ty clerk and ex-officio clerk of the superior court of the state of Washinglon 
for King county, and when the votes were counted it was found that he had 
been elected by a large majority, receiving the support of his many friends 
in both political parties. He is now filling the office with credit to himself 
and to the entire satisfaction of his fellow citizens. 

Socially Mr. Koepfli is a valued member of the Ancient Order of United 
Workmen, the Independent Order of Foresters, the Iowa Legion of Honor, 
the Modern Woodmen of America, the Bankers Association of Des Moines, 
Iowa, the Sons of Herman, the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and the 
Washington Fraternal Congress, of which he is treasurer, but the order in 
which he takes the most active part is the Woodmen of the World, being one 
of the head managers of the organization for the nine states of the Pacific 
jurisdiction. This order is one of the best and most successful fraternal 
insurance societies and is receiving ver)- large accessions to its membership 
every year, its management and methods being highly approved by all who 
iiave investigated the subject. 

In 1876 Mr. Koepfli was united in marriage to Miss Maria Reynoldson 
©f Dubuque, Iowa, and to them have been born three sons, namely : Albert 
E., T. Frank and Thomas R. The family are quite prominent socially and 
arc held in the highest esteem by a host of friends in the city where they now 
make their home. In business, social and political circles Mr. Koepfli stands 
deservedly high, and is entitled to honorable mention in the history of his 
adopted state. 

VITUS SCHMID. 

Vitus Schmid is now living a retired life on Mercer island, where he was 
one of the first settlers, dating his residence from 1887. He has lived in the 
state of Washington, however, since 1870 and has therefore been a witness 
of much of its growth and development from early pioneer times when this 
section of the country was separated from the older east by almost impass- 
able mountains and the limitless sand stretches of the plains. There was 
little or no railroad communication to bridge over time and space and the 
task that awriited the pioneers was a severe and hard one. In the work of 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 309 

development and improvement in Seattle and the surrounding district Mr. 
Sclimid has borne an active and helpful part. 

A native of Hohenzollern, Germany, Mr. Schmid was born December 
18, 1848, and is a son of Conrad and Theresa Schmid, the former a farmer 
by occupation. In the public schools of his native country our subject pur- 
sued his education until he was fifteen years of age, when he bade adieu to 
friends in his native land and sailed for America in company with his brother. 
He landed in New York and shortly afterward made his way to Philadelphia,- 
where he served an apprenticeship to the wagon-making trade. He after- 
ward followed that trade, gradually making his way westward. He crossed 
the plains as the railroad was built and assisted in constructing the snow 
sheds near Cheyenne, "Wyoming. Eventually he reached California, but re- 
mained in that state for only two months, after which he came up the coast to 
Portland in 1869. There he was employed until April, 1870, but business 
was dull there, and he determined to continue his northward journey, sending 
his baggage on by stage. He then walked to Olympia and at that place took 
a boat for Seattle, where he arrived with only five dollars in his pocket. He 
aided in building the Alida, the first new boat built here. In August of the 
same year, 1870, he opened a wagon shop at the corner of Second and Wash- 
ington streets and there built the first express w^agon and also the first lumber 
wagon ever constructed here. For three years he conducted the shop and 
then returned to the east in order to marry the lady to whom he had previous- 
ly become affianced. After spending four years in the east he again came to 
Seattle. Finding that another wagon shop had been establislied in the mean- 
time, he worked at the carpenter's trade and also dealt to some extent in real 
estate, purchasing some farm land on Mercer island. He has erected a house 
at the corner of Ninth and Marion streets in the city, also his shop here. He 
is very active and enterprising in his real estate operations, and his efforts 
in this direction have led to the substantial improvement of this portion of 
the county. From his home on the island he has a fine view of Pake Wash- 
ington and Seattle. 

In i)olitics Mr. Schmid is a Republican where questions of national im- 
portance are involved, but at local elections he casts his ballot independently 
of party ties. He has served as road supervisor and also as a member of the 
school board. Socially he is connected with the Ancient Order of United 
Workmen and with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In pioneer 
days he belonged to the German Singing Society, but since he removed to 
the island he has not been associated with that organization. 

Mr. Schmid has been twice married. On the 6th of April, 1874, he 



3IO REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

wedded Sarah A. Chase, and they liave had four children : Conrad G. ; Victor 
J.; Theresa, who became the wife of Edward McMalion ; and Carohne, the 
wife of Frederick Reniich, who is proprietor of a newspaper at Wood- 
stock, Ilhnois. Botli Mr. and Mrs. McMalion are graduates of the State 
Elniversity and are now successful teachers : the two sons were also students 
of the State University, and in the summer of 1897 they went north in 
company with Professor Ingrahani and made the ascent of Mount St. Elias 
with Count Luigi ; the following \ear they were lost with the Jane Grey while 
on their second trip to Alaska. The mother died Jul\- 15, 1883, and on the 
Cth of August, 1888, Mr. Schmid was agam married, his .second union being 
with Ida Drj'en. Their .son, George Mercer Schmid, died ni the spring of 
1899, at the age of six years. Such in brief iF the life history of our subject. 
He has never had occasion to regret his determination to make America his 
home, for in the opportunities of this land he has found the business open- 
ings he desired, and with appreciation for possibilities and with unflagging 
enterprise he has steadily worked iiis way upward. 

JOHN STEWART BRACE. 

John .Stewart Brace is the presitlent of the Brace & Hergert Mill Com- 
l)any of Seattle, extensively engaged in the manufacture of lumber and 
shingles. Canada has furnished to the United States many bright, enter- 
]irising young men, who have left the Dominion and entered the business 
circles of this country, with its more progressive methods, livelier competi- 
tion and adv.incement more quickly secured, .\mong this number is John 
Stewart Brace. He has some of the strong, rugged and persevering charac- 
teristics developed by his earlier environments, which, coupled with the im- 
pulses of the Celtic bloo<l of his ancestors, made him at an early day seek 
wider fields in which to give full scope to his ambition and industry. He 
found the opportunity he sought in the freedom and appreciation of the 
growing western portion of the country. Though born across the border he 
is thoroughly American in thought and feeling and is devoted and sincere in 
his love for the stars and stripes. His career is identified with the history 
of Seattle, where he has iicquired a competeiice ;uid where he is ;m honored 
and respected citizen. 

Mr Brace was born in Canada on the 19th of .\ugust. 1861, being of 
English ancestry. Harvey Brace lived in \^eriuont when the Revolutionary 
war broke out, and he was a captain on (iencral W ashington's staff during the 
war. His son Bannister, born in ijfH- moved to Aul)urn. New Y<irk. where 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 311 

!lar\ey Brace, tlie grandtatlier of Jolm Stewart, was Ijoin in 1808. This 
G^randlather Brace moved to Toronto, Canada, in 1829. where he estabHshed 
.in edged tool factory, later removing his industry to Goodrich, Canada. He 
married a Miss Fischer, a lady of German ancestry, and in his later life went 
with his son Lewis John Brace to Spokane, Washington, where he spent his 
remaining days, passing away at the ripe old age of eighty-one years. By 
his marriage he had a large family, and the children were reared in the faith 
of the Episcopal church, and as there was no church of that denomination in 
ihe neighborhood in which they lived the grandfather of our subject joined 
the Presbyterian church and remained identified therewith until his death. 
ile was a man of sterling w"orth and unquestioned honesty. 

Lewis John Brace, the father of our subject, was born in (ioodrich, 
Ontario county, in 1838, and after arriving at years of maturity wedded 
Miss Mary Gibson, a native of Ireland, who went with her parents to Canada 
when only five years of age. Lewis John Brace became an extensive man- 
ufacturer of lumber and was also engaged in contracting for and construct- 
ing public buildings, bridges and roads. During a large portion of his resi- 
dence in Canada he held the ofifice of Queen's magistrate in the town of Wing- 
ham, this being an office \ery similar to that of justice of the peace in the 
United States. Removing westward to Spokane, Washington, he was there 
largely engaged in stock-raising and later turned his attention to the manu- 
facture of lumber, but now he is retired from active business and with his 
estimable wife resides in the city of Seattle. During the whole of his busi- 
ness career he has been a prominent and reliable man, honored for his upright 
luisiness methods as well as for his public spirited citizenshi]). He and his 
wife have had seven children, tour of whom are yet living. 

( )f this number John Stewart Brace is the eldest. He pursued his early 
education in the public schools of Ontario and afterward completed a course 
in a collegiate institute in Gauit. W'hen seventeen years of age he joined 
his father in the lumber business and came with him to S]iokane, \\'ashington. 
when twenty-two years of age, in 1883, and since that lime has given his un- 
• livided attention to the lumber business in the state of his adoption, lor 
tive years he was connected with the Spokane Mill Company and in company 
with his father was associated in conducting a mill outside of the city. In 
October. 1888, he came to Seattle and has since been associated closely with 
the city and her interests. Here he at first accepted the position of superin- 
tendent of the old Western Mills Company, with which he remained until it 
was al)sorbed by the Rainier Power & Railway Company, of which D. T. 
'Vnnv was the largest stockholder. Later this business went into the hands 



312 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

of a receiver and was closed out by him. in 1895 Mr. Brace and his partner, 
Mr. Hergert, leased the property and met with such excellent success in the 
conduct of their business that in 1899 they purcliased tlie property and have 
refitted the plant with the latest improved machinery. The capacity of the 
plant is novi^ sixty-five thousand feet of lumber in ten hours. They employ 
eighty men and have a large local demand for their product. Under their 
able management the business has steadily increased and the building is now 
worth seventy-live thousand dollars. Mr. Brace is a man of superior busi- 
ness ability and has not limited his efforts to one line. He is interested in 
several business enterprises and he has large logging interests, and has ac- 
quired considerable city property. 

Mr. Brace was elected alderman of Seattle in 1892 and ser\ed for two 
years. In 1890 lie was united in marriage to Miss Kate Frankland, a native 
of Providence, Rhode Island, and a daughter of James Frankland, who was 
of English ancestry. They now have five children : Sarah I\laude, Mary 
Eveline, liarry Dominick, John Benjamin and Alice Mildred. The parents 
hold membership in the Episcopal cliurch and Mr, Brace is a valued member 
of the Independent Ofder of Odd Fellows. They have a fine residence in 
vSeattle and are very highly respected citizens, while Mr. Brace is known as 
a successful business man. His life has been one of continuous activity, in 
which he has been accorded his due share of labor, and to-day he is numbered 
among the substantial residents of Seattle. His interests are thoroughly 
identified with those of the nortliwest, and at all times he is ready to lend his 
aid and co-operation to any movement calculated to benefit this section of 
the country or advance its w(i!Klerful development. 

ALBERT BUHTZ. 

A reprensentative of the industrial interests of Seattle, Albert Buhtz is 
the president of the Fremont Barrel Company and the manager of the busi- 
ness. A native of Germany, he was born on the 25th of September. 1846, 
his parents being William and Christiana (Pretzer) Buhtz, both of whom 
were natives of the same country. The father was sea captain and owned 
ihe ship on which he sailed. In religious faith he was a Protestant and was 
a man of sterling integrity who made many friends in his own land and in 
the ports to which he sailed. He died at the age of sixty-four years, and his 
wife passed away at the age of fifty-eight years. They were the parents of 
six children, of whom only two are living, a younger l)rother of our subject 
being still a resident of Prussia. 




J^^^^^zr £^,.a^f 






SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 3i3 

Albert Buhtz was educated and learned his trade in his native land and 
\vhen fourteen years of age he went to sea, following "a life on the ocean 
wave" for eight years, during which he sailed over all parts of the Atlantic 
ocean and the North sea. In 1868, when twenty-two years of age, he came 
to the United States and made his way inland to Cleveland, Ohio, intending 
to make this country his home. At the time of his arrival in the Ohio city he 
had but little knowledge of the English language, but he was determined and 
resolute and his self-reliance and energy have enabled him to steadily advance 
in the business world. He learned the cooper's trade in Cleveland and en- 
gaged in the manufacture of oil barrels, securing a good market for his pro- 
duct. He remained in that business in Cleveland mitil 1888 when he deter- 
mined to come to Seattle, hoping thereby to benefit the health of his wife. 

In 1 87 1, in Cleveland, Mr. Buhtz had been married to Miss Susie Gram- 
lich, who was bom in Germany but was brought by her parerits to the United 
States when she was but two years of age, her father being Jacob Gramlich. 
Eight children were born unto our subject and his wife in Cleveland and an- 
other child was added to the family in Seattle. All are yet living and are 
respected members of society in the city in which they have so long resided. 
After arriving in this city Mr. Buhtz began work at his trade and being 
expert and capable he soon found that his services were in constant demand. 
In 1896 he established his present business and is now at the head of tlie 
Fremont Barrel Factory. He has a lot two hundred by two hundred feet, on 
which he has erected a building eighty by si.xty feet and two stories in height. 
He has also built another building, twenty by thirty-six feet and a story and a 
half in height. In connection with the plant there is also a dry kiln forty by 
sixty feet. He has the facilities, tools and knowledge to enable him to manu- 
facture the best cooperage of all descriptions. He makes a specialty of fish, 
vinegar and meat barrels, and the fish barrels are largely sent to Alaska. A 
large business is successfully conducted and the factory is so arranged that if 
exceptionally large orders are received an extra number of workmen can be 
employed to hasten the filling of the order. In the conduct and ownership of 
the factory Mr. Buhtz is now associated with his son. Albert J., who is the 
secretary and treasurer of the company. He is a well informed and capable 
young business man. 

.•\lbert J. Buhtz is now married and has one son. The other members 
of the fathers family are William F., Emil R., Carl F., Minnie, Susan, 
Amelia, Matilda and Gertrude. Susan is now the wife of William Wagner. 
The family have a good home which Mr. Buhtz built on the hillside, over- 
looking his factory and the surrounding country and the beautiful lake near 



314 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

by. In his political affiliations he is a Republican, having supported the 
party since casting his first presidential vote for James A. Garfield. He and 
his family are members of the German Congregational church. The hope 
that led them to seek a home on the coast has been realized, for here the mother 
regained her health and still lives to bless the home by her cheerful presence. 
I\Ir. Buhtz is a man of strong force of character, purposeful and resolute. 
He is still active in business affairs and his career has been remarkably suc- 
cessful chiefly by reason of his natural ability and his thorough insight into 
ihe business in which as a young tradesman he embarked. His word is as 
:good as his bond and the better one knows him the greater the respect he 
-entertains for him. 
.. EDWIN R. BISSELL. 

Edwin R. Bissell is engaged in the drug business at Auburn, his mer- 
cantile affairs being a prominent factor in the commercial activity and pros- 
perity of the town. He was born near Erie, Erie county, Pennsylvania, on 
the 2ist of February, 1855, and is a son of Gaylord G. Bissell, whose birth 
occurred in Litchfield county, Connecticut, on the 13th of February, 1825. 
When a young man the father left the Charter Oak state and removed to 
Erie county, Pennsylvania, and subsequently became a resident of Fort 
Dodge, Iowa, where he remained for about five years. In i860 he removed 
to Virginia City, Montana, being one of the pioneers of that celebrated min- 
ing camp. He was chosen the first mayor of Virginia City and was after- 
ward the first police judge of that place, filling those positions at a time when 
ihat section of ^Montana was overrun with outlaws. It required considerable 
personal courage and determination to occupy those offices, but he discharged 
his duties without fear or favor, and his son Edwin now has in his pos- 
session a star which was presented to his father while he was acceptably serv- 
ing as police judge, and which the son prizes very highly. Gaylord G. Bissell 
was a practicing physician and had also been admitted to the bar in his 
younger days, but never followed the law as a profession. In Montana, 
when he was not engaged with his official duties, he devoted his energies to 
mining. In 1869 he returned to the east, locating at Loviiia, Iowa, where 
he engaged in the practice of medicine until his life's labors were ended in 
death, on the 8th of July, 1879. In Litchfield county, Connecticut, he had 
•vedded Emily Talmadge. who was born in Connecticut, April 20, 1828, and 
they were married in that state on the 7th of Novanber. 1849. Mrs. Bissell 
survived her husband for a number of years, passing away in Loviiia, Iowa, 
-on the 20th of April, 1898. Both the parents of our subject were of French 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 315 

j-fuguenot extraction and tlieir respective families were foinided in America 
1)}' those who belonged to the original Plymouth colony of New England. 

In the schools of Torringford, Connecticut, and Lovilia, Iowa, Edwin 
i^ Bissell pursued his education, becoming a resident of the latter place when 
thirteen years old. He continued his studies until he reached the age of eight- 
een, after which he engaged in teaching for two or three years, near Avoca, 
Iowa. He followed that profession through the winter months and during 
the summer season worked as a farm hand. During the mining e.xcitement 
in Colorado he went to Leadville and entered the employ of the Little Pitts- 
burg Mining Company, with which he was connected for a year. He then 
turned his attention to the cattle business in San Luis valley, in Colorado, 
raising cattle on the range for about four years. He went through all the 
experiences of a cowboy on the plains. He then returned to Iowa and after 
his marriage took his bride to Colorado, where he continued to make his 
Jionie until 1884, when he sold his interests there and became a resident of 
Lovilia, Iowa, where he conducted a restaurant for a year. He next re- 
moved to Vining in Clay county, Kansas, where he accepted a position as 
clerk in a general store, acting in that capacity for four years. 

In 1889 Mr. Bissell came to Washington, locating at Auburn, where in 
connection with his uncle, V. R. Bissell, he opened a drug store under the 
firm name of V. R. Bissell & Company. The uncle died in 1893, since which 
time the store has been owned and conducted by Edwin R. Bissell. He car- 
ries a large and well selected stock of drugs and other commodities usually 
found in first-class drug stores, and his patronage is extensi\e anad brings to 
him a good profit. 

In 1881 occurred the marriage of Mr. Bissel to Miss Alice Roberts, the 
wedding taking place in Lovilia, Iowa, where the lady was born in i860. 
She died in Auburn in January, 1902, leaving one son, Gaylord Nathan, who 
:s now thirteen years of age. Mr. Bissell belongs to King Solomon Lodge, 
F. & A. M., Douglas Lodge, K. P., Valley Lodge, I. O. O. F., the Independ- 
ent Order of Foresters and the Ancient Order of United Workmen, also to 
the National Union and Oriental Princes. He is a popular representative of 
those fraternal organizations and has many friends among the brethren in 
the ranks. His political support is given with unfaltering purpose to the 
Republican party, and upon that ticket he was elected treasurer of Auburn in 
1 898, and has since been continuously in the office, proving ioyal and faithful 
to the trust reposed in him. He is a man of enterprising and progressive 
spirit and has found in the business opportunities of the west the advantages 
which he sought for the purpose of acquiring a comfortable competence. 



3i6 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

PERRY POLSON. 

"Through struggles to success," has been the life record of Perry Pol- 
son. Difficulties and obstacles have barred his path to the goal of prosperity, 
but by determined and honorable effort he has worked his way steadily up- 
ward and to-day he stands in an enviable position on the plane of affluence, 
with a record of diligence, perseverance and business integrity that any man 
might envy. A native of Sweden, he was born in Halmstad on the 8th of 
July, 1854. His parents, Olof and Gunilla (Matson) Poison, were born, 
reared and married in Sweden and in 1868 came to the United States, bring- 
ing with them their seven children, three sons and four daughters. They 
settled in Iowa, and one more son was added to the family there, while one 
son was born in Washington territory. With the exception of two, all of the 
children are yet living and both parents survive at the age of sixty-eight 
years. They are respected and industrious farming people and are faithful 
and devout members of the Lutheran church. 

Perry Poison is the only member of the family residing in Seattle. He 
received a common school education in his native land and was a lad of four- 
teen years when in 1868 he arrived with his father and the family in Iowa 
and began to earn his own living there as a farm boy. After three years 
spent in the Hawkeye state he came to Washington territory, being then a 
youth of seventeen years. Here he continued to work as a farm hand, being 
paid from thirty to forty dollars per month, which was the usual wages paid 
at that time. During the Cariboo excitement in British Columbia he went 
there and was employed by the firm of Meacham & Nason at Barkerville in 
the lumbering and mining business at seventy-five dollars per month and 
board. He had charge of one of the lumber yards and the accounts in con- 
nection with the business. On his return to Washington he puchased a farm 
of one hundred and ninety acres in Skagit county, for which he was to pay 
five thousand dollars. He paid one thousand dollars down, the remainder to 
lie afterward paid, leaving a debt of four thousand, and at the end of the first 
year he found that he was five thousand dollars in debt and was paying fifteen 
per cent, interest on the same. That interest he continued to pay for six 
years. 

In 1881 Mr. Poison was united in marriage to Miss Kate H. Hinckley, 
who was born in the old town of Shasta, California, a daughter of J. C. 
Hinckley, the publisher of the first newspaper in the then flourishing town 
and mining camp of Shasta. I""or three years after his marriage Mr. Poison 
continued on the farm and reduced his indebtedness, but the worrv and anx- 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 317 

iety were too much for him. His heahh failed and he was told by the physi- 
cians that he could not live unless he made a change. He then rented the farm, 
reserving a small piece of land, on which he intended to build and make his 
home, but in the meantime a party in the implement business induced him to 
engage in that line of commercial activity as a partner in Laconner, Skagit 
county, under. the firm name of Pool & Poison. They did business together 
tor a little more than a year and then Mr. Poison purchased his partner's in- 
terest and continued the business alone for a year. On the expiration of that 
period he admitted his brother Nels Poison to a partnership and after two 
years of successful business a third brother, John Poison, became a partner, 
and the Poison Hardware Company was organized. The business grew to 
large proportions. They were buying their goods from Portland and San 
Francisco jobbers, but in 1889 Perry Poison went east and purchased goods, 
after which the Portland jobbers refused to sell them goods and also put their 
traveling men in Mr. Poison's territory to canvass his patrons and take from 
him his customers. This caused our subject to conclude that he would either 
have to go out of business or go to Seattle and open business there in com- 
petition with the Portland people. The firm incorporated under the name of 
the Poison, Wilton Hardware Company, Mr. A. Wilton joming the com- 
pany, and a branch house in Seattle was opened with Mr. Wilton in charge. 
They were then in direct competition with their old friends and by careful 
Tnanagement and honorable business methods they secured the business to 
such an extent that one of the Portland branches at Seattle was sold to them, 
and they were in control of the whole business. They became large whole- 
sale dealers in this line and have the credit of being the pioneer jobbers of 
agricultural implements and vehicles from Seattle. They also have a store 
at Wenatchee, Chelan county, besides their store at Laconner which is now 
a branch store, their Seattle store now being their head office. After the last 
incorporation of the firm, Mr. Poison's brother, Nels, withdrew, and in Feb- 
ruary, 1 90 1, his brother John died. He had been vice-president and secre- 
tary of the company. In 1897 Mr. Wilton withdrew and the following year 
Mr. Poison changed the name of the business to its present rorm, the Poison 
Implement & Hardware Company, of which he is the president and manager. 
Through all the years he has been the active moving spirit in the enterprise 
and to his business talent and honorable methods ma-y be attributed the 
splendid success he has achieved. He has the good will and confidence of 
all with whom he has had business relations. 

Unto Mr. and Mrs. Poison have been born four children : Minnie, who 
is now a stenographer in her father's office; Helen, Olof Hinckley, and 



3i8 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

Harold. Mr. Poison is a member of the Masonic fraternity and was secre- 
tary of his lo<lge in Laconner. He is also a representative of the Ancient 
Order of United Workmen and in politics is a Republican. While on his 
farm he served as road supervisor and school director, but has never been 
desirous for official positions. Such is the life record of Mr. Poison, and 
his success has been most creditable. Like other business men he has not 
found all of the days equally bright. Indeed in his commercial experience, 
he has seen the gathering of clouds that threatened storms and disaster, but 
his rich inheritance of energy and pluck has enabled him to turn defeat into 
victories and promised failures into brilliant successes. Whether as a busi- 
man or in private life, he has always been the same genial, courteous gentle- 
man, whose ways are those of refinement, and whose word no one can 
question. 

ALVER ROBINSON. 

Alver Robinson, who for the past ten years has been president of the 
Seattle Land Company and is now engaged on his own account in buying 
and selling real estate and loaning money, has been a very active factor in the 
improvement and upbuilding of the city in which he makes his home. He 
has been interested in a number of additions which have been made to Seattle, 
including Harrison Heights north of Lake Union, and Latone which is now 
well improved. He has also been interested in the Brooklyn addition, com- 
prising one hundred and seven acres adjoining the State University, and in 
the Coffman addition, between Jackson street and Yesler Way, comprising 
twenty-three acres. 

Mr. Robinson is a native of Tennessee, his birth having occurred near 
Knoxville, on the 4th of August, 1857. The family is of Scotch lineage and 
was early founded in Virginia by ancestors who located there in pioneer days. 
Walter Robinson, the grandfather of our subject, was born in the old Domin- 
ion, and became a planter and slave-owner there, but did not believe in the 
system of holding people in bondage and at the time of the Civil war became 
a staunch Union man and a Republican. When a young man he left Vir- 
ginia, removing to Tennessee, where he was married and in that state, in 
1832, his son John C. Robinson, was born. After arriving at years of matur- 
ity the latter was united in marriage to Elizabeth B. Chisholm, a lady of 
Scotch lineage, who was born in Tennessee. He inherited his father's slaves, 
but he, too, was not in favor of the system of slavery as it existed in the 
south. Removing to Arkansas and afterward to Kan.sas, he has devoted 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 3 '9 

tlie greater part of his attention throughout his business career to agri- 
cuhural pursuits and is now hving in the Sunflower state at the age of 
sixty-nine years. He and his wife have long been acceptable and faithful 
members of the Christian church and are worthy and esteemed citizens of 
the community in which they make their home. Mr. Robinson served as 
assessor of his county and was a candidate of his party for the state legis- 
lature, but as his county has a Democratic majority he was defeated by 
a small vote, as he endorsed the Republican party and its principles. Mr. 
and Mrs. Robinson became the parents of eleven children, of whom nine 
are yet living and three of the sons are respected and worthy citizens of 
the state of Washington; namely, A. J., of Seattle; C. D., of Snohomish; 
and Alver. 

In taking up the personal history of Alver Robinson we present to 
our readers the life record of one who is widely and favorably known in 
connection with business interests in Seattle. He pursued his education in 
Missouri and in Kansas, for during the period of the Civil war his family 
resided in the former state. Early in his business career he was engaged 
in farming and later turned his attention to the manufacture of carriages 
as a member of the firm of Cole & Robinson, in which industry lie was in- 
terested from 1883 until 1887, meeting with a high degree of success in 
his undertakings. He was also to some extent engaged in real estate deal- 
ing and his experience in that direction proved a benefit to him when he 
began his real estate operations on the Pacific coast. In the year 1887 Mr. 
Robinson made his way to California and in the fall of that year arrived 
in Seattle, where he became one of the organizers of the Seattle Land Com- 
pany, of which he was president for ten years. He has been very prominent 
and influential in promoting the growth and improvement of the city, doing 
all in his power to advance its interests. He is a business man of high 
integrity, of marked enterprise and keen discernment, and his well directed 
efforts have been the foundation of the success which has attended him. 
He is now a member of the Chamber of Commerce, a body composed of the 
most prominent and enterprising business men of Seattle. 

In 1889, Mr. Robinson was happily married to Miss May Randolph, 
a native of Oregon and a daughter of S. P. Randolph, one of the honored 
pioneer settlers of the Sunset state, who later came to Washington, taking 
up his abode in Seattle in 1873. To our subject and his wife was born one 
.'^on. Walter Randolph Robinson, who is now in school. In 1893 ^^^- Robin- 
son was called upon to mourn the loss of his wife, who died on the 12th 
of March. She was a lady of amiable disposition, of culture and refinement. 



320 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

and a devoted Christian woman. In the church she was an active and 
earnest worker, and her loss was deeply felt there as well as in her home 
and in the social circles in which she moved. On October 7, 1902, Mr. 
Robinson was married to Miss Anna Campbell. 

Soon after coming to Seattle Mr. Robinson placed his membership in 
the First Presbyterian church and later he became one of the organizers of 
Westminster Presbyterian church, witli which he has since been identified. He 
is now one of its most active and influential representatives, is serving as one 
of its deacons and is a trustee, and in his contributions for its support he is 
most liberal and generous. His life has been honorable, and viewed in a 
personal light he is a strong man, strong in his good name and in the 
high reputation which has come to him through upright dealing in business 
and through fidelity to duty in every relation in which he has been placed. 

CHARLES R. COLLINS. 

Charles R. Collins was born in the city of Philadelphia on the 3d of 
January, 1863. and the blood of English and Welsh ancestry flows in his 
veins. The family of which he is a representative was founded in Virginia in 
colonial days and among its numbers were those who were active particip- 
ants in events which shaped the early history of the Old Dominion and also 
of New Jersey. In religious faith they adhered to the Society of Friends. 
On the maternal side Mr. Collins is connected with the Harrisons of Vir- 
ginia. Joseph Harrison Collins, tJie father of our subject, was born in 
Haddonfield, New Jersey, in 1813, and married Martha Ann Judkins, a re- 
presentative of an old family of Virginia, but later established in Ohio. Mr. 
Collins removed to Philadelphia. Pennsylvania, where he was engaged in 
the lumber trade and in the building business. Under the old city govern- 
ment he served as a city commissioner and was a man prominent in public 
as well as business afifairs. He adhered to the faith of the Presbyterian 
church and after an honorable and upright career departed this life in 1888, 
at the age of seventy-four years. His wife survives him and is now in the 
seventy-sixth year of her age, and she still resides in Philadelphia. In the 
family were six children, and with one exception all are yet living. 

Charles R. Collins attended the public schools of his native city and 
received his instruction and training as a mechanical engineer in Stevens In- 
stitute of Technology. After completing the course he was for some years 
connected with the engineer department of the L^nited Gas Improvement 
Company of Philadelphia, where he remained until 1896. a period of ten 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 321 

years. He then came to .Seattle to accept the position of general manager 
of the Seattle Gas & Electric Light Company, in which capacity he served 
most acceptably until the 31st of December, 1900, when he resigned his po- 
--.ition to engage in business for himself. He is now connected with con- 
struction work on the Pacific coast, his labors covering the territory of Cali- 
loniia, Oregon and Washington. He assisted in laying out the work for 
the new gas plant of Claus Spreckles of San Francisco, and is also building 
the gas works at Everett, Washington. He likewise has charge of the con- 
struction of the plant of the Citizens' Gas Light & Power Company of Seat- 
tle. He is an expert mechanical engineer, thoroughly familiar with the 
great scientific principles which underlie his work, having acquired a practical 
knowledge of the duties which devolve upon him in connection with the exe- 
cution of contracts in this department of industrial activity. 

Mr. Collins was happily married in 1891 to Miss Anna Chapin, a 
daughter of William Castner Chapin, of Philadelphia. They have three 
children, Elma C, Charles R., and William Chapin. The parents hold mem- 
bership in St. Mark's Episcopal church, in which Mr. Collins is one of the 
vestrymen. He exercises his right of franchise in support of the men and 
measures of the Republican party and is well informed on the issues of the 
day, yet has never been an aspirant for office. He has become interested in 
property of the city, owning some valuable real estate, and is also a trustee 
of the Chamber of Commerce of Seattle. This is a utilitarian age, in which 
imsiness interests are predominant, and when business affairs are assuming 
extensive proportions, and marked progress is being made along all lines of 
industrial work. Realizing that there is ever room at the top and that op- 
portunity for advancement is never lacking, Mr. Collins has so qualified him- 
self for his work that his skill and ability have continuously enabled him to 
progress in the line of his chosen vocation, and he stands to-day among the 
leading representatives in the department of mechanical engineering on the 
Pacific coast. 

RALPH W. EMMONS. 

Twelve years have passed since Ralph W. Emmons became identified 
with the interests of Seattle, and during all this period he has been recog- 
nized as one of its leading law practitioners. Time has but brightened his 
reputation in professional circles and among the leading men of the city has 
given him a prestige that is indeed enviable. His birth occurred in Orion, 
Oakland county, Michigan, on the nth of December, 1854, and he is of 
English descent. The progenitor of the family on American soil was Rev. 



322 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

William Emmons, an Episcopal minister, who came to this country in an 
early day took up his abode in New Hampshire. The great-grandfather, 
William Emmons, served in a New York regiment during the Revolutionary 
war. Elias R. Emmons, the father of him whose name introduces this re- 
view, was born near Sandy Hill, New York, and he was married to Miss 
Sarah Carpenter, whose ancestors were among the early settlers of Ro- 
chester, New York, and were prominently engaged in milling pursuits there. 
Mr. and Mrs. Emmons became the parents of four children, of whom three 
are still living. 

Ralph W. Emmons received his literary training in the schools of Mi- 
chigan, while his professional studies were pursued in Milwaukee, Wiscon- 
sin, and he was admitted to the bar of Oregon in 1882. Forming a partner- 
ship with his brother, A. C. Emmons, he then embarked in the practice of his 
chosen calling in Portland, Oregon, where they have maintai!ied an office for 
the past twenty years, and for the past twelve years they have also practiced 
in Seattle, in both places meeting with a well merited degree of success. 

The marriage of Ralph W. Emmons and Cornelia liarris was cele- 
brated in 1890. The lady is of English descent, and her ancestors were 
among the early American settlers. Her father, Joseph Harris, was a Union 
soldier during the great Civil war. T|o Mr. and Mrs. Emmons were bom 
three sons, Ralph, born in Portland, Oregon, and Harris and Arthur, born in 
Seattle. The family reside in a beautiful home on Beacon Hill, and Mrs. Em- 
mons is a valued member of St. Mark's Episcopal church. On attaining ma- 
ture years Mr. Emmons became identified with the Masonic fraternity, and he 
lias ever since retained his membership therein, and he is also a member of 
the Sons of the Revolution. He has always been an ardent and active Re- 
publican, maintaining a high standing both in political and professional circ- 
les, and Seattle numbers him among her leading and influential citizens. 

JOHN W. McCONNAUGHEY. 

King county is fortunate in that it has a class of men in its public offices 
who are faithful to duty and have the best interests of the community at 
heart, placing the public welfare before personal aggrandizement and the 
good of the community before partisanship. On the list of public officials 
appears the name of John W. McConnaughey who is occupying the position of 
county treasurer. He is also well known in commercial circles, being en- 
gaged in the manufacture and sale of paint in Seattle. A native of Ohio, he 
was born in the city of Dayton in April, i860, and is of Scotch-Irish ancestry. 





tTT^T--^^ 




SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 323 

In the Keystone state David JvIcConnaughey, the grandfatlier of our subject, 
was born and removing westward became one of the pioneer settlers of Day- 
ton, Ohio, where he secured a farm from the government and placed the 
land under a high state of cultivation. To its development and improvement 
he devoted his energies up to the time of his death which occurred in his 
sixty-eighth year. John C. McConnaughey, the father of our subject, was 
bom on the homestead farm near Dayton, on 1824, and after arriving at 
years of maturity married Miss Elizabeth A. Keplinger. Her father also 
was a pioneer of Ohio and for many years an owner of a flouring mill there. 
Mr. McConnaughey was a farmer and stock raiser who spent his entire life 
in his native town and died at the age of seventy-two years. His wife still 
survives him and is now sixty-nine years of age, her home being in Dayton, 
Ohio. This worthy couple were the parents of eleven children, all of whom 
are still living. Three of the sons are on the Pacific coast, C. K. McCon- 
naughey, being the cashier in the treasurer's office of King county, while D. 
F. is manager of the Seattle Paint and Varnish Company, the stock of which 
is owned by John W., D. F. and C. K. McConnaughey. 

To the public school system of Dayton, Ohio, John McConnaughey is 
indebted for the educational privileges he received. In 1885 he left home in 
order to enter upon an independent business career and making his way to the 
west was engaged in the brokerage business in Wichita, Kansas. He traveled 
all over the western part of that state and at length sought a home on the 
Pacific coast, removing to Portland, Oregon, in the fall of 1889. The month 
of July, 1892, witnessed his arrival in Seattle, where he continued in the 
brokerage and real estate business until April, 1898, when he organized the 
Seattle Paint and Varnish Company, under which name he and his brother, 
D. F. McConnaughey, are conducting a wholesale business, manufacturing 
all of the goods which they handle. They make everything in the paint line 
and their business is proving a very satisfactory one, bringing to them a good 
income annually. The product of their factory finds a ready sale upon the 
market owing to the excellence of quality as well as reasonable price and the 
reliability of the house. Our subject is also largely interested in city real 
estate, including both business and residence property, his investments having 
been so judiciously made that they have greatly augmented l:is capital. 

Mr. McConnaughey is identified with all of the interests of Seattle and 
is well known not only because of his real estate dealings and his industrial 
and commercial interests, but also because of the active part which he takes 
".n promoting movements and measures calculated to advance the general 
good. He is a valued member of the Rainier Club, the Athletic Club and of 



324 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

the Chamber of Commerce. In poHtics he has been a Hfelong RepubHcan 
r.nd in the fall of 1900 was elected to his present office by a good majority 
and is filling the position with much ability. He has thirty employes in his 
office under him and has given a surety bond of $233,000. He sustains an 
unassailable reputation for integrity and honesty in all business transactions 
and the choice of the public in calling Mr. McConnaughey to office was cer- 
tainly a wise one. Fraternally he is connected with the Benevolent and 
Protective Order of Elks. He is a thorough representative business man. 
his standing being high in the community and he is both widely and favorably 
known in the city of his adoption. 

CHARLES B. FORD, U. D. 

Each calling or business, if honorable, has its place in the scheme of 
human existence, constituting a part of the plan whereby life's mediods are 
pursued and man reaches his ultimate destiny. "All are needed by each 
one," wrote Emerson. The importance of a business, however, is largely 
determined by its usefulness. So dependent is man upon his fellow men 
that the worth of the individual is largely reckoned by what he has done for 
humanity. There is no class to whom greater gratitude is due than to those 
self-sacrificing, noble minded men whose life work has been the alleviation 
of the burden of suffering that rests upon the world, thus lengthening the 
span of human existence. Their influence cannot be measured by any known 
standard, their helpfulness is as broad as the universe and their power goes 
hand in hand with the beneficent laws of nature that come from the source of 
life itself. Some one has said, "he serves God best who serves humanity 
most." The skillful physician then, by the exercise of his native talents and 
acquired ability, is not only performing a service for humanity, but is follow- 
ing in the footsteps of the Teacher who said, "Inasmuch as ye have done it 
unto one of the least of these, ye have done it unto me." 

A name that stands conspicuously forth in connection with the medical 
profession of Seattle is that of Dr. Charles Bickham Ford, one of the young- 
er members of the profession. He is a native of Shreveport, Louisiana, born 
August 17, 1873, and on the paternal side is of Scotch and English ancestry, 
while on the maternal side he is of German and English ancestry. The 
Doctor's paternal great-grandfather removed to North Carolina in a very 
early day. and his son moved from that state to Mississippi, where he was a 
planter for a number of years, and was also a member of the Mississippi state 
senate. His son, William Pendleton Fonl, was born in Mississipi)i, in 1847. 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 325 

He was there married to Miss Clara B. Kline, a native of Shreveport, Louisi- 
ana, and a daughter of John Jackson, also of that state. They were of Ger- 
man ancestry, the progenitor of the family in this country having been among 
ihe early settlers of Pennsylvania, and the Doctor's ancestry on both sides 
were active participants in the Revolutionary war. William Pendelton Ford 
joined the Confederate forces when but fourteen years of age, and was a 
brave and valiant soldier until the close of the great sanguinary struggle. 
He was wounded in battle, and his death occurred at the age of forty-six 
years. He removed from Mississippi to Louisiana, and served as cashier of 
the Merchants & Farmers Bank of Shreveport. To Mr. and Mrs. Ford 
were born three children, two sons and a daughter, and of these Edward G. 
now resides in Baltimore, Maryland. The daughter died in infancy. The 
mother still survives, and now makes her home with her son, the subject of 
this review, in Seattle. The family are members of the Episcopal church. 
Dr. Charles B. Ford received his literary education in the University of 
South Sewanee, Tennessee, and his professional training was acquired in the 
Bellevue Medical College, in which he was graduated with the class of 1895. 
Ill order to still further perfect himself in his chosen calling he spent a year 
and a half in the Brooklyn Hospital, and upon the expiration of that period 
he came to Seattle and entered upon his professional career. He soon se- 
cured a liberal and remunerative practice and won recognition as one of the 
leading physicians of the city. He has given special attention to the prac- 
tice of surgery, in which he is considered an expert, and in addition to his 
large private practice he is also serving as assistant surgeon to the Marine 
Hospital. He is a valued member of the King County Medical Society and 
of the Washington State Medical Society, and his skill and experience along 
the line of his chosen calling far outreach his years. He is a genial gentle- 
man, always courteous and considerate, of broad humanity, sympathy and 
tolerance, and possessed of that sincere love for his fellow men without which 
there can never be the highest success in the medical profession. His friends 
are legion, and the history of Seattle would be incomplete without the record 
of his life and work. 

MRS. JOSEPHINE P. McDERMOTT. 

This is an age in which woman's ability in many departments of busi- 
ness life has been widely recognized, because she has successfully entered the 
ranks of commercial and professional life and proved that her skill is equal 
to tliat of man. Mrs. McDermott is the efficient president of The Bon 



326 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

Marche, Nordhoff & Company incorporated department store, which is one 
of the largest and most popular department stores in the northwest. It is 
located at 1419-35 Second avenue and 1 15-123 Pike street, and an office is 
maintained in New York city for the purchase of the goods. Four hundred 
employes are found in the Seattle establishment and there are twenty-five 
departments in the store, handling all such goods as are sold in the large de- 
partment stores of New York and Chicago. Edward Nordhoff, now de- 
ceased, and his wife, who is now Mrs. McDermott, came from Chicago, 
where they had been employed as salespeople, to Seattle in 1890, and started a 
little store in North Seattle with quite limited means, but they worked to- 
gether and their straightforward business methods and liberal policy, to- 
gether with courteous treatment of their customers, brought them a large 
patronage, and their success from the beginning was almost phenomenal. 
The business increased rapidly each year, and in 1897 still larger quarters 
were required for the enterprise and they removed to the present store on 
Second avenue. But when Mr. Nordhoff was about to realize his highest 
dreams of success death claimed him. The business was then incorporated. 
R. G. H. Nordhoff, the brother-in-law of Mrs. McDermott, became her part- 
ner. He is a gentleman of exceptionally fine business ability and became the 
vice-president of the new company, while Mrs. Nordhoff" was made president. 
They are conducting the business along the lines first planned, buying goods 
for cash, selling at a small profit and therby making large sales. Absolute 
<:ourtesy to all patrons is demanded from their employes, and the business has 
grown each year until it has assumed very extensive proportions. Each 
Saturday night they give concerts to which the customers are welcome, and 
the generosity and liberality with which they conduct the business has 
brought them hosts of friends. 

Edward L. Nordoff, who was the founder of this business, was bom in 
Germany, pursued his education there and in that country became familiar 
with business methods. Emigrating to the new world he took up his abode 
in Chicago, where he secured a clerkship in one of the large stores of that 
city. His capability, keen insight and untiring energ}- continually brought 
liim promotion until he became the manager of a large mercantile establish- 
ment there. After his marriage he removed from Chicago to the northwest 
to engage in business on his own account and met with the highest success 
in his undertaking. He was devoted to his business, was continually watch- 
ing for opportunity to extend its scope, and yet he was ever found as a genial, 
generous, public-spirited and enterprising citizen and was highly esteemed by 
all with whom he came in contact through business or social relations. Shortly 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 3*7 

before his death he induced his brother, R. G. H. Nordhoff of Buffalo, New 
York, who had been a successful business man of that place, to become identi- 
fied with the commercial interests of Seattle, thereby adding a valued addi- 
tion to its mercantile circles. 

Mrs. McDermott was born and educated in Chicago and there gave her 
hand in marriage to Edward Nordhofif. Since their removal to Seattle she 
has given her entire attention to the business and has deservedly earned her 
position as the most popular and prominent business woman of the city. The 
policy maintained in the store has ever been a most liberal one, reflecting 
credit upon the owners. Mrs. McDermott has an individual interest in those 
who are in her service, and all know that fidelity will lead to promotion as 
opportunity ofTers. 

On the 4th of June, 1901, Airs. Nordhoff became the wife of Frank M. 
McDermott, a popular and prominent business man of Seattle, numbered 
among the extensive and successful merchants; both are widely and favor- 
ably known in this city, and their efiforts have contributed to the business 
prosperity of Seattle. The success of the enterprise of which Mrs. McDer- 
mott is the head has been gained along the old time maxims such as, "Hon- 
esty is the best Policy," and that, "There is no excellence without labor." 
rhe large department store of Nordoff & Company is to-day one of the lead- 
ing commercial enterprises of the city and its representatives have been a 
valued addition to Seattle. 

JOHN G. GRAY. 

The ancestry of this Seattle lawyer is English, and his father emigrated 
to this country at an early age and became a Congregational minister. \Vhile 
ni the service of the church he was pastor of churches in New York, Illinois, 
Iowa and Nebraska. His family consisted of five sons and three daughters, 
all of whom are now living. 

John G. Gray was born in 1861. He was educated in the public schools 
of Whiteside county. Illinois, and at the age of sixteen years began teach- 
mg in Nebraska. His legal education was acquired in the law office of 
.-\bner W'. Askwith, Esq., now a leading lawyer of Council Bluffs, Iowa. 
In 1887 Mr- Gray was admitted to the supreme court of Iowa, and in 
1888 he moved to Salt Lake City, Utah, and in 1890 became a member of 
the firm of Booth, Lee & Gray, which firm enjoyed a good practice. In 
1898 he removed to Mountain Home. Idaho, and was engaged in business 
ventures (lutside of his profession. In September, 1899, he removed to 
Seattle and resumed the practice of the law. 



328 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

July I, 1901,- he formed a partnership with Mr. Hugh A. Tait, form- 
erly of Ogden, Utah, under the firm name of Gray & Tait, and the firm 
continued until January i, 1903, when Mr. Tait accepted the appointment 
of assi.stant corporation counsel for the city of Seattle. The appointment 
was unsolicited ujion the part of Mr. Tait, and came to him on account of 
his reputation as a careful lawyer acquired in the trial of cases confided 
to the firm of Gray & Tait. Mr. Gray retains the business "of the firm, has 
a number of clients, and they have confidence in his ability. In 1893 Mr. 
Gray married Miss Nellie Strickley, and two daughters and a son ha\ e been 
born to them. In politics Mr. Gray has ever been a Republican. 

GENERAL J. D. McINTYRE. 

There is no man in King county whose life, if it were written in full 
here, would make so thrilling a romance as that of Brigadier General J. D. 
Mclntyre, of Seattle. He is fifty-one years old, by profession a mining 
engineer, and until 1890 had lived almost continuously on the outskirts of 
civilization. His life has been a part of the history of many^of our w^estern 
mining camps. He is a crack shot, and has had more sanguinary- encoun- 
ters with white men, Indians and wild beasts than could be recounted in 
a volume. It may be said of him that he does not know the sense of fear. 
For tb.e past eleven years he has settled down to a quite home life, has ac- 
quired a large fortune and lives in his own beautiful home overlooking Lake 
Union, in Seattle. A visit to his home on Lake Union is well worth anyone's 
while. The originality of the architecture of the house and grounds is a 
refle.x of the character of the man. 

Gen. Mclntyre w-as born at Point Fortune, Canada, on December 4, 1851, 
of Scotch parents. His great-great-grandmother was a daughter of a brother 
of the Duke of Argyle, and his great-great-grandfather was a real admiral 
in the British navy. His great-grandfather was a lieutenant in the British 
army, and distinguished himself at the battle of Quebec, and was with Gen. 
Wolff when he fell. The family, consisting of father, mother and three 
children, of which the General was the oldest, emigrated to the United States 
in 1858, and in 1859 the General's father (since dead) went to Pike's Peak, 
afterwards Denver, Colorado, but then a part of Kansas. He engaged in 
mining and took out a great deal of gold in Georgia Gulch. He built the 
first toll road in Colorado. The family followed in i860, taking four months 
to make the journey by team. It was on this trip that first began the series 
of exciting adventures that has followed this boy's career ever since. The 




Q.l^.'v^A.'^i-v'.x;^^ 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 329 

whole route was infested with Indians. Their travels were often impeded 
by great herds of buffalo. Flocks of graceful antelope glided by them con- 
tinually. This boy, naturally of a martial spirit, here got his first lessons in 
fighting Indians and hunting. The train consisted of one hundred wagons,, 
and young Mclntyre was rated as good a shot as any man in the train. 
When the train reached Loup's Fork, of the Platte river, it ran into five thous- 
and Crow Indians on the war path, but how they escaped being all massacred 
is too long a tale to recount here. In crossing Loup's Fork a great cloud- 
burst occurred, breaking the cable on which the ferry boat crossed the river,, 
and some forty on board, including the boy Mclntyre, were carried down the 
mighty tlood at a violent speed, but, strange as it may seem, all were saved 
from this danger also. 

Denver, at this time, contained only seventy-five houses and was sur- 
rounded by apparently a great desert. For about seven years young Mc- 
lntyre never knew what it was to be free from the danger of an attack by 
Indians. Gen. Mclntyre says his growth was stunted by the strain on his 
nervous system. 

A public school was started in 1863 at Denver and one of the first boys 
to appear at this school was young Mclntyre. In 1864 the negroes were 
admitted to the school, where many southern children attended, which caused 
a great riot. At a meeting young Mclntyre was chosen captain, not because 
he was opposed to the colored children's attendance, but because he had the 
coolest head and seemed the best qualified for leadership, slthough he was 
.scarcely fourteen years old, and many boys in the school were much older. 
Within an hour he had organized the whole school into three companies, ap- 
pointed officers, secured a drum and fife, a flag and was marching down La- 
ramie street, Denver, to the school board, which was in session. He told no 
one his plan, but marshaled the three noisy companies close around the offices 
of the school board. He selected two other boys as a committee to see the 
school board and went in, when he made the following speech : 

"Mr. Chairman, we come to you as a committee of the Denver public 
school children, to say that owing to the prejudice growing out of the war 
many of our school boys and girls are opposed to occupying the same seats, 
with the colored children, and, while we recognize the right of colored chil- 
dren to attend our school, we believe it would be wiser to put the colored chil- 
dren in a room by themselves, and give them a separate teacher for a while. 
When the prejudices, growing out of the war, have had time to die out, no 
doubt we will all look on this thing differently." 

A hurried consultation was held by the school board, in which all agreed 
21 



330 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

that the boy was right. They tlieii and tliere announced that tliey would 
give the colored children a separate teacher, until further notice. 

In 1870 young Mclntyre, then nineteen years old, was elected enrolling 
clerk of the eighth session of the Colorado legislature. Durnig the session a 
concurrent resolution was passed almost unanimously through both Senate 
and House, asking the delegates in congress to give young Mclntyre the first 
vacancy at West Point. This was done because of his special fitness and 
ability, and for certain achievements which were known only to a few. He 
went imtiiediately to the Military Academy at West Point, but soon saw that 
the wild frontier life, hunting and fighting Indians, had not given him the 
requisite education to enable him to pass the examinations, and he must re- 
turn home, greatly to his disappointment. About this time was the period 
of the worst hazing at West Point. They made a bronco of plebe Mclntyre, 
and had another cadet ride him, greatly to the amusement of the first and 
second classes. He stood this hazing like a stoic, until one man asked to see 
his sweetheart's picture. This infuriated young Mclntyre, and he whipped 
two men, a second and third class man dreadfully, before he could be over- 
powered and taken off. A number engaged in the melee, and pressed hitii 
back to the wall. He told them they were a lot of cowards, for a dozen to 
jump on one, and that he could whip the whole academy one at a time. 
They were veiy glad to let the young bronco go, and the ^vord was passed 
around the academy that no man should haze him again, and they never did. 
It is a custom at West Point that a good fighter shall not be hazed. He then 
went back to Denver and studied for several years with civil and mining en- 
gineers. 

In 1877 he went to the Black Hills, locating at Deadwood. This was 
ii year or more before law and order had been established in the Black Hills 
;ind young Mclntyre soon became a leader in the vigilance committee which 
ruled during all these wild times. Deadwood was crowded with des- 
perate men and the vigilance committee dealt summary justice to all offend- 
ers. It was the rule of the committee to hang the offender and try him after- 
wards, and Mclntyre says no mistake was ever made in hanging the right 
man. 

He bought the Minnesota mine, near the Great Homestead, at Lead 
City. While away on a surveying expedition three desperadoes, led by Jim 
Levy, jumped his mine. When he returned, being informed of the situation, 
lie immediately started for the mine alone, with nothing but his trusty re- 
volver. He walked into the tunnel where the three desperadoes were at 
work, picked up all their ginis and ammunition, threw them o\er his should- 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 33 1 

er and drawing liis own revoher ordered tliem to C(jnie out. They were 
completely cowed by the boldness of this move, and as he had the "dead sure 
drop" on them, and knowing that he was a dead shot and a bad man to fool 
with, they came meekly out. He ordered them to "hit the trail" for Lead 
City, which they did. The whole to\vn got wind of the trouble, turned out 
to see the sight and young McLityre became the hero of the camp. Many 
tales of this kind could be told of him if space would permit. 

In many of the early mining camps he is known as Lucky Jack, because 
of his wonderful luck in mining ventures. He was for many years the lead- 
ing mining engineer of the Black Hills. He was chief engineer of the Great 
Homestead mines, before he was twenty-seven years old He examined 
mines in company with the greatest mining engineers of the nation at that 
time. There is no doubt that the knowledge acquired in such times was one 
of the sources of his success in mining ventures in Washington, Alaska and 
British Columbia. He is the owner of or interested in many paying mines, 
and will in all human probability become one of the bonanza miners of the 
Pacific coast at no distant day. He is the owner or part owner of several 
gold mines that had been wrecked by bad management, and has with those as- 
sociated with him made them pay well. 

In 1890, together with some Tacoma gentlemen, he formed the Mont- 
zunia ^Mining Company which owns the coking coal mines at Montzuma, 
now paying dividends. He, with Henry Hewitt, Henry H. Sweeney and 
Col. C. \X. Thompson, of Tacoma, formed also the Pacific Coast Steel Com- 
pany, which was a consolidation of the Tacoma Steel Company and the Pa- 
cific Steel Company, combining virtually all the steel and iron industries on 
the Pacific coast. He, with E. M. Shelton, of Seattle, and Charles Richard- 
''On, of Tacoma, formed the Bessie Gold Company, whose gold mines are 
near Juneau, Alaska, which company is now paying dividends. He formed 
the La Rica Consolidated and bought the Peshastin Gold M'nie at Blewett. a 
rich property. He has raised more money from eastern investors than any 
man in the northwest. There are over six thousand stockholders in his 
enterprises. He has not only the ability to conceive great enterprises, like 
those mentioned above, but can organize them, raise money, build the enter- 
prises and run them economically afterwards. This is a rare gift and one 
that finds a wide field in the development of the vast resources of the Pacific 
Northwest. He makes very strong friends and bitter enemies. No one ever 
accused him of going back on a friend. He is generous to a fault, and many 
a man will tell you how he helped him in times of trouble. He never drinks. 



332 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

smokes or swears; a cultured gentleman and a good friend as well as a 
bitter enemy. 

In 1882 he went from the Black Hills to Montana, and within eight 
years he had organized five different irrigation companies, raised the money 
and built over four hundred miles of irrigating canals. He built the great 
(iailatin canal, the big Muddy Storage reservoirs, the Chestnut Valley canal, 
the Sun river canal, the Florence canal and others, making a large amount of 
money out of them. He came to Washington at the request of the Northern 
Pacific railroad officials and organized the great Sunnyside Canal Company 
at North Yakima, and sold out to the Northern Pacific. He came to Seattle 
in 1891, and the following year surveyed the Okanogan Indian reservation 
for the United States government. 

Gen. Mclntyre has always taken a prominent part in politics. He is 
one of the immortal thirteen who organized the People's party of this state, 
in 1894, and stumped the state in that election. The People's party carried 
the state by a tremendous majority, electing nearly every man on the ticket. 
He was formerly prominent in the Prohibition party, and stumped the state 
for that party. He is a reformer in politics and, while he is socialistic in his 
views, can scarcely be termed a socialist. 

General Mclntyre was appointed brigadier-general commanding the 
National Guards of Washington, in 1896. The state force consisted of the 
first and second Washington regiments, two troops of cavalry and one bat- 
tery of artiller}^ He served all during the Spanish war. The splendid 
record made by the first regiment in the Philippines was largely due to his 
training. 

Gen. Mclntyre is a born leader of men and is possessed of rare executive 
ability in the organization, financiering and development of great business 
enterprises, especially in mining. He is considered one of our ablest political 
organizers, but as he is a reformer in politics he usually starts with the 
minority. 

General Mclntyre's domestic life has always been of the most delightful 
and inspiring character, as he was possessed of those greatest of earthly 
blessings, a good wife and a good mother. In 1883 he married Miss Lizzie, 
daughter of Professor A. Hull, one of the most learned men in Iowa. To 
the wisdom and foresight of this brave and accomplished woman her husband 
admits his great obligations, and never wearies of saying how much he owes 
to her encouragement for all the successes of his life. Her father was a 
i^reat-grandson of Commodore Isaac Hull, who commanded the frigate 
"Constitution"' in her famous battle with the British ship "Guerriere" during 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 333 ■ 

tiie war of 1812. She is also a lineal descendant of General Hull, who com- 
manded the military forces of the United States in the same war. During 
iheir early married life Mrs. Mclntyre often accompanied her adventurous 
husband on his dangerous mountain trips, and looks back with pleasure to 
much of the camp life and other outdoor experiences. They have six chil- 
dren, all at home: Lucile, an accomplished musician; Marie, Cedric, Ralph, 
Marguerite and Phillis Yvonne. Of her to whom he owes his being General 
Mclntyre always speaks as "my beautiful mother." She is living at Spo- 
kane with his two younger brothers. Laura S. Murphy, the portrait artist, 
is his sister. General Mclntyre joined the Masonic order while living in 
Montana, and is also a member of the Royal Arcanum. He and his wife 
are members of the Christian church. 

GEORGE M. HORTON, M. D. 

Dr. George M. Horton, a prominent member of the medical profession 
of .Seattle, whose marked ability and careful preparation have gained him 
distinction in the line of his chosen life work, has spent almost his entire life 
in this city, for he was only five years of age when his parents removed to 
Seattle. He is a son of Julius Horton and a nephew of De.xter Horton, who 
are mentioned elsewhere in this volume, and in whose sketch appears the an- 
cestral history of the family. Julius Horton was born in New York and 
after arriving at man's estate he married Miss Annie E. Bigelow, a native 
of Michigan. They had a family of four children, three of whom are yet 
living. The father now resides in Georgetown, Washington, at the age of 
sixty-seven years. He is a member of the Protestant Methodist church and 
in his political afiSliations is a Republican. At one time he served as assessor 
of King county. Both he and his wife are among the well known and high- 
ly esteemed early settlers of Washington, having located here at an early 
period in territorial days. 

The Doctor was bom in Shabbona Grove, De Kalb county, Illinois, on 
the 17th of March, 1865. He was only five years old when brought by his 
parents to the west and has since been a resident of Seattle. His literary 
education was begun in the public schools here and after he had completed 
his high school course he entered the territorial university, where he com- 
pleted his general studies. He then began preparations for professional 
duties as a student in the Bellevue Hospital and Medical College in New 
York city, where he was graduated in 1890. He then returned to Seattle 
and at once began the practice of the profession for which he had received 



334 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

excellent training in one of the best schools of the land. He entered into 
jxirtnership with Dr. J. S. M. Smart, who had been his preceptor before he 
went east to college, but soon Dr. Smart died and Dr. Horton has since been 
alone, gradually acquiring an extensive and important practice among Seat- 
tle's best citizens. As a physician and surgeon he ranks among the most 
skilled in this part of the state and is constantly broadening his knowledge 
and promoting his efificiency as a practitioner by reading, investigation and 
experiment. By his marked skill he has attained celebrity and is now meet- 
ing with excellent financial success as well. 

During his practice here Dr. Horton served for four years as county 
coroner. Fraternally he is a Master Mason, belonging to St. John's Lodge 
No. 9', F. & A. M., of Seattle. He is also a Knight Templar and has taken 
the degree of the Scottish Rite up to and including the thirty-second. He is 
also a member of Afifi Temple of the Mystic Shrine of Tacoma, and he holds 
membership with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Ancient Order 
of United Workmen, the Knights of Pythias and the Woodmen of the 
World. In the line of his profession he is a member of the King county 
Medical Society, in which he has been honored with the presidency, the 
Washington State Medical Society and the American Medical Association, 
in all of which he is an active and valued representative. 

In 1891 Dr. Horton was united in marriage to Miss Ethel G. Benson, a 
daughter of H. A. Benson, of Portland, Oregon. They now have two sons 
and a daughter, George M., Kenneth and Gertrude. The Doctor has a 
very wide and favorable acquaintance throughout Seattle, both profession- 
ally and socially, and he and his wife enjoy the high esteem of a host of 
warm friends. 

WASHINGTON C. RUTTER. 

The history of King county would be incomplete without the record of 
this representative citizen, whose career has ever been one in which business 
activity has been blended with unbending honor and unfliixhing integrity, 
and his course is well worthy of emulation by him who would justly com- 
mand the respect of his fellow men. Mr. Rutter was born in Tarentum, 
Pennsylvania, on the i8th of May, 1854. and is of Puritan ancestry. His 
ancestors landed at Plymouth Rock from the Mayflower, and later his 
branch of the Rutter family settled in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, and 
were active participants in the subsequent history and wars of the country. 
Our subject's grandfather, William Rutter. was born in Lancaster county. 
Pennsvlvania, but when a voung man removed to Lawrence county, that 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 335 

state, where he was married. As a Hfe occupation he followed the tilling of 
the soil, and he lived to the good old age of ninety-three years. 

John Rutter, the father of him whose name introduces this review, was 
born in Lawrence county, Pennsylvania, in 1826, and at Tarehtum, Pennsyl- 
vania, in 1850, he was united in marriage to Eliza Jane Horton, w^ho was 
born in Tarentum, Pennsylvania, in 1824. He, too, followed farming as 
a life occupation, and became a prominent and influential citizen of his locali- 
ty. During the dark period of the Civil war he volunteered as a one hun- 
dred day man in the Union army, and his brother, who was killed at Spotts- 
svlvania, Virginia, in May 1864, and cousins were also soldiers in that 
memorable struggle, all loyally aiding in the presentation of the Union. 
One family sent five sons to fight for the starry banner, and three of the num- 
ber laid down their lives on the altar of their country. John Rutter passed 
to his final reward in 1895, at the age of sixty-nine years. He had been a 
stauncii Republican since the formation of the party, and was an upright, 
loyal and w'orthy citizen. His wife was called to her final rest on the 3d of 
March, 1898, at the age of seventy-four years. In their family were three 
sons and a daughter, all of whom are still living. One son, Jesse W., is a 
mine owner and resides at Nome, Alaska, wdiile the son James A. is en- 
gaged in the lumber business in West Virginia. The daughter, 'Sirs. Tillie 
J. Stoops, makes her home near Dayton, Pennsylvania. 

Washington C. Rutter enjoyed the advantages afforded by the common 
schools of Pennsylvania and Ohio, the family having located in the latter 
state in 1856. where they resided for ten years, and then returned to Kittann- 
ing, Pennsylvania. His boyhood days were spent on his father's farm, and 
after attaining to mature years he was engaged in coal mining in western 
Pennsylvania for twelve years. Since the spring of 1888 he has made his 
* home in Seattle, and during his first year in this state he worked in the coal 
mines at Oilman, and while thus engaged, in 1889, he was nominated on the 
Republican ticket to the first house of representatives in the state of Wash- 
ington. He was successful in the following election, and w-hile thus ser\-ing 
he was made chaimian of the committee on mines and mining, was a member 
of the committee on labor and labor statistics, and also served on the 
•military committee. In 1890 Mr. Rutter was elected to represent the 
twenty-ninth district in the state senate, in which he served for two sessions, 
and in the first session he was again made chairman of the committee on 
mines and mining, was a member of the committee on labor and labor statis- 
tics, and also on the committee of public buildings and grounds. In 1893 
he was appointed bv the executi\e committee of the ^^'ashington World's 



336 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

Fair Commission to make a collection of the different minerals of the state, 
which exhibit was shipped to the World's Fair at Chicago and exhibited in 
the Washington state building under his immediate supervision. In this col- 
lection was a mammoth piece of bituminous coal weighing twenty-five tons, 
from Roslyn, Kittitas county, from which he gave away ten thousand 
small pieces, properly labeled, and these were taken all over the world and 
thus they proved a great advertisement for the coal deposits of the state. 
Thus Mr. Rutter rendered a most valuable service to this commonwealth, 
and his efforts were highly commended in the final report of the executitve 
commissioner from this state. In 1897 he was appointed clerk of the 
probate court of King county, in which office he served for three years, and 
he then became interested in mining and organized the Kittanning Mining 
Company, of which he is the president. Their property is located in the 
Red Boy mining district of eastern Oregon, and the mines of this company 
are proving very valuable because of their rich deposits. 

The marriage of Mr. Rutter was celebrated on the 3d of September, 
1 89 1, when Miss Emma Clow became his wife. She is a native of Buffalo, 
New York, and by her marriage she has become the mother of two sons, 
Fred C. and George J. The family occupy a beautiful home at South Park, 
Seattle, which Mr. Rutter erected in 1892. In his social relations he is a 
member of the Masonic order, having been made a Master Mason in Olive 
Branch Lodge No. 114, at Leesburg, Virginia, in 1882. He is also a mem- 
ber of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Ancient Order of 
United Workmen, and the Seattle Aerie No. i, of the Fraternal Order of 
Eagles. On attaining to years of maturity he became allied with Republi- 
can principles, and he was an active worker in the ranks of that party until 
the time the Republican national convention convened at St. Louis, of which 
he was made a member. He left the party with Senator Teller and thou- 
sands of others and has since been independent in his political views. Since 
the year 1888 Mr. Rutter has been a resident of the Pacific coast, and he has 
nobly performed his part in bringing about the changes which have contri- 
buted to its present properous condition. As one of the public spirited and 
leading citizens he is held in high esteem. 

AMOS O. BENJAMIN. 

The day of small undertakings, especially in cities, seems to have passed 
and the era of gigantic enterprises is upon us. In control 01 mammoth con^ 
cerns are men of master minds, of almost limitless ability to guide, of sound 




j( /3^, 



yC^ /^^^^^l^L^L^A^^ 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 337 

iudgment and keen discrimination. Their progressiveness must not only 
reach the bounds tliat others have gained, but must even pass beyond into 
new and broader, untried fields of operation; but an unerring foresight 
and sagacity must make no mistake by venturing upon uncertain ground. 
Thus continually growing, a business takes leadership in its special line 
and the men who are at its head are deservedly eminent in the industrial 
world, occupying a position that commands the respect while it excites the 
admiration of all. There is no one in Seattle who has done a larger business 
in the line of raising sunken vessels and in the buying and selling of steam- 
boats than Amos Oscar Benjamin, who is president of the Alaska Com- 
pany. He has been the owner of not less than thirty steamers, buying many 
disabled ones, putting them in repair, then sailing them for a time and after- 
ward disposing of them at a profit. He, too, has been a successful and 
practical diver for many years and the splendid degree of prosperity which 
has attended his efforts is well merited. 

Captain Benjamin was born in Rome, Oneida county. New York, on 
the 22d of June, 1843, ^^'^ is descended from an old New England family 
that was early established in the colonies. His paternal grandfather was 
born in Vermont and emigrated to New York, rearing his family in Her- 
kimer county, nine miles from Little Falls. There his son, Oscar Benjamin, 
was born in 18 19. Later he married Emaline Cleveland, of Westerville, 
Oneida county. New York, and followed the business of a contractor and 
builder, meeting with creditable success. Li religious faith he was a Method- 
ist and in politics a Whig. He died at the early age of twenty-seven years, 
leaving two little children to the care of his widow. Mrs. Benjamin after- 
ward became the wife of Francis P. Graves and three daughters were born 
of that union, of whom two are yet living. The mother died in North 
Dakota in 1888 at the age of sixty-six years. 

In the public schools Captain Benjamin pursued . his education. He 
was in his seventeenth year when the great Civil war burst upon the coun- 
try. At once he endeavored to enlist but his mother objected to his entering 
the service at that early age and he was therefore rejected. In the follow- 
ing year, however, on the 4th of January, 1862. he succeeded in becoming 
an enlisted member of Company I, Eighty-first New York Infantry, serving 
in the Peninsular campaign under General McClellan in Virginia. He was 
in the seven days battle under that leader at Fair Oaks and at a later period 
was in the engagements at Cold Harbor, Fort Harrison and in front of 
Petersburg. The troops then proceeded down the south side road after the 
army of General Lee, and when tlie surrender came;, Captain Benjamin 



338 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

was acting as orderly under General Gibbons and prepared the room in which 
the articles of surrender were drawn up. He arranged the table and brought 
the pen and ink with which the terms of agreement were written and signed 
and he now has in his possession the table spread which was then used. 
His command was the first to enter Richmond and set at liberty the pris- 
oners who were incarcerated in Libby. At one occasion in the battle of 
White Oak Swamp he was wounded in the ankle. He had re-enlisted in 
his old regiment in January, 1864, and was honorably discharged on the 
22d of June, 1865. Efficiently and well had he served his country and to 
the north he returned as a veteran and victor. 

The year following the close of the war, Mr. Benjamin was happily 
married to Misss Ann Wood, of Oswego, New York. For a short time 
he was engaged in the shipping and commission business in the east and on 
the 6th of April, 1867, he followed the advice of Horace Greeley and started 
westward, going by way of the Lakes and the railroad to Cedar Falls, Iowa, 
and on to South Dakota. He finally settled at Fremont, Nebraska, 
where he became engaged in the business of removing buildings. He was 
also prominent in public affairs there and served as constable and deputy 
sheriff for three years. Removing to Dixon county, that state, he secured 
?. homestead claim upon which he resided for four years, becoming the 
owner of six hundred acres of land in that locality, but the grass hoppers 
destroyed all of his crops and he abandoned his property. After two years 
passed in Nevada he came by team to Seattle, bringing with him his wife 
and three children. They started on the 3d of July, and arrived on the 3d of 
September, 1878. 

Here Captain Benjamin engaged in teaming for a year and later turned 
his attention to the work of moving buildings. In 1881 he began the wreck- 
ing business which he has followed continuously for the past twenty years. 
He succeeded in raising a locomotive for the Northern Pacific Railroad 
from the bay at Tacoma. It was under thirteen feet of sand and several 
parties had attempted the work without success. He took it out and for his 
work received a clear profit of ten hundred and fifty dollars. In 1897 the 
present Alaska Company was incorporated for the purpose of raising sunken 
vessels. Captain Benjamin became president and in the enterprise he is 
associated with his sons and his sons-in-law. They have taken a locomotive 
out of forty-eight feet of water and have raised many wrecked steamers. 
For the past eighteen years Captain Benjamin has also engaged in steam- 
boat traffic and is now the owner of the Nellie Jenson and a brig which 
he is overhauling. I'ew men are more familiar with the waters of the Sound 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 339 

than he. He had sailed on the Atlantic before coming west and since his ar- 
rival on the Pacific coast he has been master of the Evangel and the Fern- 
ilale, together with other vessels. He has owned as many as thirty steam- 
ers and several sailing vessels and his business has been an important one, 
proving of value to the public and at the same time bringing to him a good 
profit. He has become especially prominent as a diver and wrecker. 

In his business Captain Benjamin is associated with his sons William 
S., Charles A. and Paul S. His daughter Bertha is the wife of D. Van 
Dyke, a master mechanic, and Annie Gertrude is the wife of A. H. Cogs- 
well, of Seattle, while Martha Emeline resides at home. The sons-in-law 
are trustees in the corporation and Mr. Cogswell is now its secretary. 

Captain Benjamin entered the war as a believer in ihe doctrines of 
Democracy, but before its close he became a Republican and has since 
stanchly adhered to the party. He is a prominent member of the Grand 
Army of the Republic and the Ancient Order of United Workmen and he 
and his wife are connected in membership relations with the Seattle Taber- 
nacle church. Captain Benjamin is a man of pleasing address, courteous 
manner, unflinching principle and unquestioned integrity, and yet with all 
that practical common sense which never runs to extremes ; and it is no 
wonder that wherever he goes he wins friends. His life has been well spent 
and his honorable and useful career is worthy of emulation. 

RALPH COOK. 

Ralph Cook, chief of the fire department of Seattle, with headquarters 
at station No. i, on the corner of Seventh avenue and Columbia street, was 
l)orn in Suffolkshire, England, on the i6th of October, 1865, and is a son of 
Edward and Jemima (Griffith) Cook, both natives of that county. Ralph 
is the eldest of their nine children, the others being: Daniel A., lieutenant 
of engine company No. 9 ; Edward, a member of engine company No. 4, 
both brothers being employed as plumbers ; Joseph and Charles, who are en- 
gaged in mercantile pursuits in Seattle; Jemima, the wife of George Over- 
ton, a brick layer of this city: Susanna, the wife of A. Edwards, also of Seat- 
lie: Martha, the wife of John Prichards, of this city; one son, Edward, died 
:n England when only two years of age. 

Ralph Cook was brought by his parents to this country when only five 
years of age, the family locating in Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania, where the 
father was employed as inspector of mines. There the son Ralph spent the 
days of his boyhood and youth, and to the public school system of the city he 



340 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

is indebted for the early educational advantages which he received. At an 
early age he engaged in carpenter work, and was associated with his father 
in the work of the mines. In 1888 he accompanied the family on their re- 
moval to Seattle, Washington, where the father engaged in the grocery busi- 
ness at the corner of Fifteenth and Spruce streets, and the son received con- 
tract work for grading and excavating. In November, 1890, the season 
subsequent to the disastrous fire which swept over this city, the Seattle fire 
department was organized into a paid company, and our subject was made 
deck hand on the fire boat. Previous to his coming to Seattle he had spent 
five years in the volunteer fire department of Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania, 
two years of the time being president of the company, and after fifteen days of 
service on the fire boat his efficiency caused him to be transferred to company 
No. I, where for a time he served as a pipeman. From October, 1892, until 
February, 1895, he held the position of lieutenant, was then promoted to the 
captaincy, and in July, 1895, was made the chief of the department. On 
the nth of June, 1896, however, he resigned that position to engage in busi- 
ness for himself, and on the 31st of September of the same year he was ten- 
dered the office of assistant chief, which he accepted and filled until February 
.'6, 1 90 1, when he was again made chief of the department. 

Chief Cook is without exception the most capable and efficient fireman 
on the western coast, and for a man of his years he has probably seen more 
active service than falls to the lot of those who engage in fighting this des- 
troying element. He has been engaged in almost continuous service since 
his eighteenth year, and the efficiency of the fire department of Seattle re- 
flects great credit on the worthy chief as well as to the brave fire laddies 
under his command. The headquarters of the department are at station No. 
I, on the corner of Columbia street and Seventh avenue, where three com- 
panies and eighteen men are located; engine company No. 2 is stationed at 
Pine and Third avenue, where nine men are employed ; company No. 3 is 
stationed between Seventh and Eighth avenue, south : company No. 4 is 
located at Battery and Fourth avenue, with eight men ; company No. 5 is 
the fire boat, Snoqualmie, at the foot of Madison street, with eight men; 
company No. 6 is stationed at Twenty-sixth avenue, south, and Yesler 
Way with six men; company No. 7 is at Fifteenth avenue and Harrison 
street, with six men ; chemical engine company No. i is stationed at Fremont 
street, with three men ; chemical engine company No. 2 is stationed at Ter- 
race and Broadway, with three men ; and chemical engine company No. 3 is 
at Lee and First avenue, west. The company have seven steam fire engines; 
two of the most approved modern chemical engines ; seven hose wagons, 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 34i 

equipped with chemical engines; two combination chemical engines and hose 
wagons; one fire boat, with necessary equipments; three hook and ladder 
wagons, of the Arial turn-table patterns and a sixty-five foot extension 
ladder; seventeen thousand two hundred feet of hose in good condition and 
four thousand and five hundred and fifty feet in an inferior condition, kept 
for extra service. In the year 1901 they made three hundred and eighty 
runs, eighty-eight in excess of the previous year and one more than in any 
year since the company was organized. The department was organized with 
paid service in October, 1889, immediately after the great fire. It has ever 
been the aim and effort of Chief Cook to increase the working efficiency of 
the department by the adoption of the best methods and appliances, and 
through his exertions many improvements have been made and other im- 
portant ones are under way. With the exception of San Francisco the com- 
pany has not a superior on the Pacific coast. 

On the 24th of January, 1893, in Seattle, Chief Cook was united in mar- 
riage to Miss Nellie Meade, a daughter of Thomas and Julia Meade. She 
^\■as born in the city of London, but when a child was brought by her parents 
to Toronto, Canada, where her life was spent until 1890, and in that year she 
came with the family to Seattle; her father is a contract plasterer of this 
city, and Mrs. Cook is the youngest of his three children, the others being: 
Thomas, Jr., a brickmason of Seattle; and Mary, the wife of Richard Hays, 
also of this city. Four children have been born to the union of Mr. and 
Mrs. Cook, but two have passed away, Ralph, the first born, and Grace, 
both dying in infancy. The two surviving children are Mary and Elline. 
In his fraternal relations Mr. Cook is a charter member and for several 
years was treasurer of Evergreen Lodge, No. 33, A. O. U. W., and is also 
a member of Seattle Lodge, No. 92, B. P. O. E. He attended the Fire 
Chiefs' convention in New York, and visited the fire departments of all the 
eastern cities. He is one of the most honored and highly esteemed citizens 
of his community, and it is safe to say that no man in Seattle has a wider 
circle of friends and acquaintances than Ralph Cook. 

WILLIAM M. RUSSELL. 

William M. Russell is the popular manager of the Third Avenue The- 
ater of Seattle. He was born in Detroit, Michigan, on the 22d of February, 
1849. His grandfather, Peter Russell, came from France with Marquis 
De Lafayette and fought in the Revolutionary war. After its close he de- 
termined to make his home on the American continent, and subsequently re- 



342 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

moved to Montreal, Canada, where his son, Peter Russell, was horn in 1819. 
Throughout his business career the latter was engaged in contracting and 
building. In 1827 he left his native place, removing to Wayne county, 
Michigan, and settling near Detroit, and as the city grew his place was 
finally included within the corporation limits. There he built the Russell saw- 
mill on Grand River avenue. He married Miss Ellen Quigley, a native of 
Inverness, Scotland. Her father was a native of the Emerald Isle, born in 
Belfast, and her mother was born in the land of hills and heather. Mr. and 
Mrs. Russell continued to reside in Michigan, and he died in Detroit in 1878, 
at the age of seventy years, while his wife had passed away ten years before, 
and both were laid to rest in Mount Elliott cemetery of that city. They were 
members of the Catholic church. In their family were thirteen children 
and five of the sons and three of the daughters are yet living. One of the 
sons, Charles Russell, is an engineer in the Third Avenue Theater of Seattle. 
William M. Russell attended school in Detroit until his eighth year, 
after which he had only three month's mental training within the school- 
room. In the school of experience, however, he has learned many valuable 
lessons and has continually obtained knowledge by reading, experience and 
obser\ation. He entered upon his business career in connection with the 
hnnber trade in Birmingham, Michigan, and later was an officer in the De- 
troit House of Correction, having charge of fifty of the convicts in the paint- 
ing department. He was just in his twentieth year and he displayed such 
good judgment and efficiency in the discharge of his duties that after three 
years he was promoted to the position of deputy warden, which office he 
filled until 1871, when he resigned in order to go upon the road as collector 
for the firm of D. Appleton & Company of New York. He continued in 
that business for seven years, or until 1878, when he entered the theater 
business as a manager in New York city. He first was manager for the 
scout, Texas Jack (J B. Omohundro), and Daniel McKay, the famous Ore- 
gon scout. Later he took out his own company and toured through Mich- 
igan until 1886. He not only managed his own company, but also spec- 
ulated in various other theatrical enterprises. In 1887 and 1888 he man- 
aged Dan Morris Sullivan, "Mirror of Ireland," and in 1889 he organized 
a dramatic company under the firm name of the Russell and Jewell Dramatic 
Company. This company he brought to Seattle, it being the first popular 
attraction of any note ever in the city. It occupied the old Turner Hall and 
proved a valued addition to the amusement circles of the west. In 1890 he 
returned to Seattle with the same company and later toured Oregon, Califor- 
nia, Montana, New Mexico. Colorado, Texas and Arizona. He closed 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 343 

out his business on the 22d of February, 1893, and spent some months in 
southern Cahfornia. On the 15th of May, 1893 he again arrived in Seattle 
and tix)k charge of the Third Avenue Theater. 

Not long after this the Merchants National Bank acquired the owner- 
ship of the theater, and in 1894 Mr. Russell became manager for the owners, 
and when the bank failed a receiver was appointed, Mr. Russell continuing 
in his position. In 1897 he formed a partnership with E. L. Drew and 
purchased the bank's interest in the theater. Since then they have been 
the lessors of the theater, which for a time played a stock company, 
but in 1896 Mr. Russell began placing traveling attractions and has 
brought to this house the leading popular attractions of the United States. 
The patronage for the last three years has been six times greater than that 
when he took charge. Attractions are all booked at least a year in advance. 
The house is represented by Stair & Havlin of New York, where it has be- 
come as w'ell known to theatrical men as it has to the people of Seattle. Mr. 
Russell devotes his entire time to the management of the opera house and 
lias made a marked success in this business. 

CHRISTIAN N. SANDAHL. 

Denmark has furnished her quota of good citizens to this country, 
and not the least enterprising among these is the subject of this review. 
Descended from a line of successful florists and seedgrowers, it is not won- 
derful that C. N. Sandahl's greenhouses and nursery are known through- 
out Seattle and even the county. He was born in Denmark on the loth of 
May, 1857. His father was an extensive land proprietor and successful 
agriculturist, using his lands for the raising of flowers and seeds. Being 
bred in this atmosphere, our subject could do nothing else than engage 
in the business he now follows so profitably. He remained in his native 
country until he reached manhood, receiving" a good education in the com- 
mon schools, which he supplemented by a course at college. Whai he 
was twenty-one years of age he engaged in the floral business in Denmark, 
which he continued with profit until he came to America in 1881. He 
located in Grand Forks county, North Dakota, where he entered some 
government land, and remained there for some eight years. During this 
time he was not idle, and at the end of this period found himself proprietor 
of four hundred acres of land, which he cultivated in an agricultural way 
until 1890, when he disposed of his land interests in North Dakota and 
came to Seattle. 



344 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

Here he rented land along the Columbia car line, and for a time was 
successfully engaged in market gardening. The inherent instincts of his 
race cropped out, however, and this business was gradually merged into 
floriculture. In 1897 he enlarged this business considerably, adding the 
nursery and seeds. This has grown and enlarged from year to year, until 
it has finally reached its present extensive dimensions. Mr. Sandahl gives 
especial attention to the quality of his flowers, and imports bulbs and seeds 
from France, Holland, Germany and Japan. He makes a specialty of im- 
ported ornamental shrubs from France and Japan, and one gains a knowl- 
edge of almost every kind of plant, bulb or seed, in going through his 
extensive greenhouses. He is proprietor and founder of the Puget Sound 
Nursery and Seed Company, whose store and distributing depot is at 1109 
Second avenue. Their nursery and greenhouses are on loii Taylor avenue, 
while their main and largest nursery is at Renton. They have also a branch 
store at Tacoma, and supply many smaller houses, shipping as far east as 
New York. In politics Mr. Sandahl is a Democrat, and belongs to the 
Ancient Order of United Workmen, and the Danish Brotherhood. He is an 
industrious, energetic and intelligent citizen, and upholds all that stailds 
for honesty and fair dealing. He is highly respected by his many acquaint- 
ances, and greatly admired and loved l)y his countless friends. 

M. FRANK TERRY, M. D. 

Seattle, the city wonderful, has enlisted in her professional ranks the 
services of many men of distinguished ability and sterling character, and 
among the representative physicians and surgeons of the metropolis of the 
great northwest stands the gentleman whose name initiates this review, and 
it is with marked satisfaction that we here incorporate a brief review of 
his career. Dr. Terry claims the old Keystone state of the Union as the place 
of his nativity, having been born in Terry township, Bradford county, Penn- 
sylvania, on the loth of August, 1840, and being a son of Mynor and Susan 
(Lacy) Terry, both of whom were likewise natives of Pennsylvania, as 
was also the paternal grandfather who bore the name of Nathaniel Terry, 
while his father was born in the state of New York, thus bearing to us 
the assurance that the family has been identified with the annals of Ameri- 
can histor>- from the early colonial epoch. The last mentioned was one 
of the pioneers of Bradford county, Pennsylvania, where he figured as the 
founder of Terrytow'n. Mynor Terry, was a tanner by vocation, and he 
passed his entire life in his native town. 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 345 

M. Frank Terry was reared to the invigorating discipline of the farm, 
and his early educational privileges were such as were afforded in the public 
schools, including a high school course. At the age of twenty years he 
beg"<in his technical study of medicine and surgery, under most efifective 
preceptorship, and after fully qualifying himself he entered into practice 
in his native town, in 1864, and there remained for a quarter of a century, 
securing a representative support and attaining marked success in his pro- 
fessional work. The Doctor may well be considered ajso as one of the 
pioneer physicians of Seattle, since he took up his abode here in the year 
1889 and has ever since carried on a successful general practice in medicine 
and surger)-, gaining marked prestige and having a supporting patronage 
of representative character. He has thus been in the active practice of his 
profession for nearly two score years, and that these have been years of 
devotion and much self-abnegation none can doubt. 

In 1897 Dr. Terr}- was appointed a member of the state board of health 
of Washington and he served in this capacity for a peridd of four years. 
For more than thirty years he has been prominently identified with the 
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in which he is past noble grand and 
has been a representative in the grand lodge of this fraternity in the state. 
In politics he has ever been independent. He has not been denied a due 
measure of temporal success during tjie years of his residence in Seattle, 
where he has accumulated valuable real estate, while he is also the owner of 
mining interests in the state. On the 8th of June, 1865, Dr. Terry was 
united in marriage to Miss Maria Sweeney, who was born m \'ermont, the 
daughter of Dr. Daniel Sweeney, and they are the parents of one daugh- 
ter, Mar\-, who is the wife of S. J. Stewart, of Seattle. 

EDWARD M. RATCLIFFE. M. D. 

There is no field of endeavor in connection with the countless activities 
of life that places so exacting demands upon those who serve in its con- 
fines as does the profession of medicine. There is demanded a most 
careful and discriminating preliminary training- and unremitting and consecu- 
tive study and application through all the succeeding days, and, over and 
above this, the true physician, who in a sense holds life in his hands, must 
be imbued with that deep sympathy and true humanitarian sentiment which 
will bear his professional labors outside the mere commercial sphere. He 
whose name introduces this review is known and honored as one of the 
representative medical practititioners of Seattle, having gained distinctive 



346 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

professional prestige and the coiilidence and respect of those to wlioni he 
has ministered, as well as of the community at large. 

Dr. Ratclifife, who has his office at 115 Yesler Way, is a native of the 
fair old .state of Kentucky. ha\ing' l>een born in Verona, Boone county, on 
the lOth of June, 1851, and being the second in a family of nine children. 
He was reared to the sturdy discipline of the farm and continued to devote 
his attention to agricultural pursuits in his native state until he had at- 
tained the age of. twenty-six years, his early educational training having 
been received in the public schools. At the age noted he began reading 
medicine under the preceptorship of Dr. Findley at Crittenden, Kentucky, 
making very satisfactory progress in his technical study and finally being 
matriculated in the Ohio Medical College at Cincinnati, in 1878. He was 
graduated as a member of the class of 1881, passing the intervals between 
the college terms in study and practice with his old pre<'eptor. Shortly 
after his graduation the Doctor located in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, where 
he continued in the active practice of his profession until 1884, when he 
came westward as far as Kansas and located in Cimarron, which was then 
in Finney county, now Gray county, and there he accepted a position as land 
agent for the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad Company, retaining 
his incumbency until 1887, when he was appointed to the office of sheriff of 
Gray county by Governor Martin, bivt resigned the office at the end of one 
year. During his regime the county .seat contest was at its height, and so 
bitter was the feeling engendered in the connection that his duties proved 
not only insistent and onerous, but also extremely dangerous at times. The 
Doctor made a record as a brave and discriminating officer, performing his 
duties with that distinctive courage and self-reliance which were so nec- 
essary in that new and wild section of the state at that time. 

In 1888 Dr. Ratclifife came to Pierce county, Washington, where he 
was engaged in the general practice of his profession until July 10, 1893, 
when he removed to Seattle, where he has ever since maintained his home 
and where he has attained an enviable reputation as a skilled physician and 
surgeon, retaining a practice of rqjresentative character. During his resi- 
dence in the state he has been identified with, many business enterprises of 
importance, lx)th in the city of Seattle and in connection with mining in- 
terests through the northwest, and he is known as an able and progressive 
business man as well as a leading manber of the medical fraternity. In 
politics the Doctor gives his allegiance to the Democratic party, and he 
ever gives his aid and influence in the promotion of those undertakings 
which make for the general good of his home city and state. In the city 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 347 

of Tacoma on the 29th of October, 1890, Dr. Ratcliffe was united in mar- 
riage to Miss Maude Garlougli, who was born in the state of Iowa, and 
they are the parents of two sons, Robert G. and Charles E. 

ISAAC WARING. 

One of the substantial and representative business men of Seattle is 
Isaac Waring, the agent and manager of the Great Northern Express Com- 
pany in Seattle. For a number of years he has been identified with the 
industrial development and public life of this section, and is widely and 
favorably known. A native son of England, he was born in Yorkshire on 
the i6th of August, 1867, and is a son of Isaac and Mary (Russell) War- 
ing, both natives of Yorkshire. The father, who was a prominent farmer 
and land owner in his native land, came with his family to America in 
1881, a location being made at Siou.x Falls, South Dakota, where he entered 
government land and engaged in general farming and stock-raising. He 
still makes his home at that place, and is an industrious and highly es- 
teemed citizen. 

Isaac Waring is one of eight children born to Isaac and Mary (Russell) 
Waring, and is the only one of the family residing in the coast country. His 
primary education was received in a private boarding school in England, where 
he remained until his fourteenth year, at which time he was apprenticed 
to a grocer, but- shortly afterward accompanied the family on their removal 
to America. His first occupation in this country was in a clerical capacity 
with a wood and coal company at Sioux Falls, and in 1885 he entered the 
employ of the American Express Company. Durirtg his seven years" con- 
nection therewith he passed through the \'arious grades of promotion, and 
for one year was the company's agent at Grand Forks, North Dakota. 
While stationed there, in 1892, the Great Northern Railroad Company or- 
gani.-ed their own express company, and Mr. Waring then came to Spokatv,a 
to assume charge of it. his territory extending from Havre, Montana, to 
tiiL' roast, and since 1896 he has had charge of the local ofifice in Seattle. 
Throughout the period of liis residence in this city he has taken an acti\e 
interest in local affairs, and in his political afifiliations is a stalwart Re- 
publican. Since 1900 he has been a trustee of the Seattle General Hospital, 
and is a trustee of the Co-operative Mining Syndicate, having been in- 
terested in mining operations for the past five years. 

On the I2th of October, 1892, at Kasota, Minnesota, Mr. Waring was 
united in marriage to Miss Martha E. Moses, a daughter of Thomas and 



348 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

Louise (0"Dellj Moses, and to this union two sons have been born, Thomas 
Ci. and Earl Russell. The family reside in a pleasant and comfortable home 
at 970 Twentieth avenue, and in addition Mr. W'arins; aJsn nuns property 
in Minnesota and Wisconsin. He is a prominent member and active worker 
in the First Methodist Episcopal church of Seattle, in which he is holding 
the office of treasurer, and for the past I'nc years has been a member of its 
official board. His excellent business ability, loycthei- with his afYable man- 
ner, strict integrity and courteous treatment of iiis patrons, have advanced 
him step by step to the high position which he now occupies in the lousi- 
ness world, and in every relation of life he has lived up to his high ideals. 

WTLLARD W. DE LONG. 

The man of wealth is not the man wliom the Americau citizens hold in 
highest regard, but he who can plan his t)wn advancement and accomplish it 
in the face of competition and obstacles that are always to be met in the busi- 
ness world. The "captains of industry" are those whose business foresight 
can recognize opportvmity and whose executive force can utilize advantages 
which are not given to one alone, but perhaps encompass the whole race. 
The life history of Willard W. De Long is simply that of a successful busi- 
ness man who owes his advancement to close application, energy, strong de- 
termination and executive ability. He has never allowed outside pursuits 
to interfere with the performance of business duties or the meeting of any 
liusiness obligations and thus he stands to-day. one of the ijrosjierous resi- 
dents of King county, strong in his honor and his good name. He is to-day 
president of the Bank of Ballard, with which he has been connected since its 
organization. For thirteen years he has been a resident of King county and 
for more than eleven years has made his home in this town, his labors prov- 
ing of the greatest benefit in the up-building of the place. 

Mr. De Long was born in Lake City. Wabasha county. Minnesota, 
julv -'5, 1 861, four days after the battle of Bull Run occurred. His paternal 
grandfather was a French refugee at the time of the Revolution. In his 
native country he attained great wealth but his estates were confiscated. At 
that time the name was spelled Da Longe. Fleeing to America the grand- 
father located in eastern New York and became connected with woolen man- 
ufacturing there. 

James W. DeLong. the father of our subject, was a native of Ohio, but 
when only eleven years of age went to sea. He worked his way steadily up- 
ward in a seafaring life until he became the owner of a sailing packet, the 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 349 

Eagle Wing, which he operated between Cahfornia and Panama, during 
the years 1848, 1849 ^"d 1850. The boat was lost in the spring of 1858, 
having been engaged in the coasting trade with the Sandwich Islands. It 
met destruction while rounding Cape Horn, after which Captain De Long 
retired from the sea and went overland to Minnesota. He had previously 
served in the United States navy as a machinist and he took up the same line 
of work in Minnesota and afterward was engaged in the same capacity in 
Chicago. In the early seventies, however, he returned to Minnesota, but 
later went to the east and was in business at different places ; coming to Se- 
attle on a visit, he died here on the 31st of July, 1893. While in Minnesota, 
Captain James De Long had married Miss Matilda A. Phillips, whose father 
belonged to an old Vermont family. After serving for four years in the 
United States navy, in Pacific waters and also engaging in chasing slave ves- 
sels in the Atlantic, Captain De Long entered the army and w^as wounded at 
San Francisco, while engaged in quelling a riot. In the spring of 1861 he 
enlisted in Company I, Thirteenth Minnesota Infantry, and was afterward 
captain of a Wisconsin company. With the Minnesota regiment he 
served in the army of the Tennessee and was captured but was later paroled. 
Subsequently he was again in military service under the command of General 
Sibley, at the time of the Indian outbreak. 

In the public schools of Chicago and of St. Paul, Minnesota, Willard 
W. De Long pursued his earl\- education juid after completing a high school 
course in the latter city he entered the business college in St. Paul. In the 
meantime he had learned the machinist's trade but after completing the course 
in the commercial school he took up teaching as a profession and for twelve 
years taught in the public schools. Later he was employed as an instructor 
m special branches in different schools and institutions. In 1889 he came to 
Seattle and was engaged in lecturing on educational subjects, just prior to 
the great fire. Later he taught school and then became president of the Ac- 
me Collegiate Institute of Seattle, which at that time was the largest school 
of the kind north of San Francisco. There were fourteen teachers and six 
hundred pupils in the institution. With the school Prof. De Long was con- 
nected until 1898, although he had gi\en up teaching personally in 1896. In 
ihe year first mentioned he sold his interest in the instituiion. Prof. De 
Long left the office of county clerk in February, 1901, in order to establish 
the Bank of Ballard. He bought the lot where the bank is located, had the 
building erected and opened the institution for business on the loth of June, 
1901. It was capitalized for twenty-five thousand dollars. By the 30th the 
bank had dqDosits of thirty-two hundred dollars. This suUi was nearly 



3 so REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

doubled by the end of the next month and has steadily increased every month 
since until on the loth of April, 1902, the deposits were over fifty thousand 
dollars. Owing to the rapid increase of business it was found necessar>' to 
increase the capital stock, which was doubled just four months after the es- 
tabhshment of the bank. Mr. De Long's early training as an expert account- 
ant and bookkeeper has proved of great service to him in his banking connec- 
tions and his extensive acquaintance with bankers and business men through- 
out the west has been an important feature in building up the extensive busi- 
ness which is now enjoyed by the institution of which he is at the head. He 
has served as cashier of the bank and in March, 1901, he purchased the con- 
trolling interest in the stock and has since been president of the institution. 
The bank building is twenty-five by ninety feet, a brick structure, two stories 
in height, and of this twenty-five by forty feet is occupied for banking pur- 
poses. Mr. De Long is also agent and member of the board of directors of 
the Equitable Building, Loan and Investment Association, his identification 
therewith dating form its organization. 

In 1882 occurred the marriage of Mr. De Long and M'ss Belle Dakota 
Bridges, the wedding being celebrated in Minnesota. The lady is a daughter 
of Mark M. and Eliza Bridges, and was the first white girl bom in the ter- 
ritory of Dakota that lived to mature years, and therefore she was appro- 
priately named. Her father was engaged in fighting Indians there under 
the command of General Abercrombie and was at the head of the commissary 
department at the time of her birth. Mr. and Mrs. De Long are the parents 
of six girls, the two eldest being now employed in the bank, one as a book- 
keeper and the other as a stenographer. His children are named as follows : 
Cleo, Ahce, Maude, Beulah, Goldie and Frances Willard. The last named 
was so called in honor of her father and also of Frances Willard. who was 
for so long the national president of the Woman's Christian Temperance 
Union, and the union of this state adopted this daughter cis an honoray mem- 
ber of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, in which her miOther is 
an active worker, having served as treasurer of local union since the society 
was established here. Mrs. De Long has also served as president of the 
Women of Woodraft for a number of yeais, and is a loyal and devoted 
member. 

In his political views Mr. De Long is a Republican and labors earnestly 
and actively for the growth and up-building of his party. He has served as 
a delegate to county and state conventions, but since taking charge of the 
bank he has found little time to devote to active political work. He served 
as fleinity clerk for four years and three months, continuing in the office 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 35 1 

through the changes of two administrations. He had charge of clericai 
work in connection with canal construction, in the purchasing of property for 
the government, and in keeping the record of the legal work. His course 
,was extremely noticeable in this respect and when the report was truned over 
to the government the work was all checked over and no errors found. This 
rec[uired a vast amount of labor, as it demanded over ten thousand entries 
in the records and a direct expenditure by Mr. De Long of Uvo hundred and 
twenty-five thous3nd dollars. Fraternally he is connected with the Modern 
,\\'oodmen, with the Fraternal Brotherhood and with the Knights of the 
Golden Eagle. He has erected two residences in Ballard, and his own home, 
I which was built in 1896, is a fine place surrounded by an acre of grottnd 
which is all set out to fruit and flowers and is an ornament to the city. 
Splendid success has attended the efforts of Mr. De Long, whose business 
interests have been of a chc^racter to benefit his community as well as to pro- 
mote individual prosperity. He has left the impress of his individuality 
upon intellectual development in various communities and is now arepresent- 
active of the financial interests of Ballard. He began his career under ad- 
verse circumstances, bejng compelled. to make his own way and,hjs success in 
.life illustrates most fQ^-qibly ithe povyer of patient and persistent , effort and 
self reliance. He has, iSP conducted all .affairs, whether of private interests 
or of public trusts, as to imerit the esteem of all classes of citizens; and no 
word of reproach is ever uttered against him. As a man and citizen he en- 
joys the prosperity which comes to those genial spirits who have a. hearty 
shake of the hand for all those with whom they come in contact from day to 
. day, and who seem to throw around them in consequence so much of the 
sunshine of life. 

CHRISTIAN MILLER. 

Few men are more prominent or widely known in this section of Wash- 
ington than Christian Miller, where for many years he has been an active 
factor in the building interests. Through his diligence, j lerseverance arid 
: business ability he has acquired a handsome competence and has also con- 
tributed to the general prosperity through the conduct of enterprises which 
have furnished employment to many. He is now serving as president of 
the Miller & Geske Construction Company, one of the sub.'^tantial firms of 
King county. A native of Linfield, Montgomery' county, Pennsylvania, Mr. 
Miller was born on the 14th of July, 1850. His maternal grandparents 
came to America as early as 1750, and his paternal ancestors were resi- 



352 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

doits of this country prior to that time, altliough no records have been 
kept. On the maternal side two of liis ancestors fouglit in the Revohition- 
ary war. and two of his nncles gallantly defended their country in the war 
of the Rebellion. James Miller, his father's brother, who was imprisoned 
at Belle Isle, is still living, while his mother's brother, John Hause, laid 
down his life on the altar of his country. Jacob Miller, the father of our 
subject, offered his services to his country in her time of need, but was re- 
fused on account of a defect in his hearing. For over fifty years he served 
as a trackmaster for the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad Company. In 
the Keystone state he was united in marriage to Cadierine Hause. by whon; 
he had five children, three now living, namely : Charles F.. who is employed 
by the Philadelphia & Reading Coal & Iron Company as superintendent of 
the coal docks at Salem, Massachusetts ; Christian, whose name introduces 
this review ; and J. W., who resides on the old home farm. The father of this 
family was called to his final rest when he had reached the age of seventy- 
four years, \\liile the mother still lives in excellent health at seventy-nine 
years of age. 

Christian Miller began the active battle of life for hnn.self al the e;irly 
age of thirteen years, at which time he learned the carpenter's trade, while later 
he took up the study of heavy building. When but twenty-four years of 
age he was given charge of the heavy work for the Philadelphia & Reading 
Railroad when the company began Inlying coal lands, and he assisted in 
establishing their coal depots on the Atlantic coast, while later he held a 
very responsible position for the Philadelphia & Reading Coal & Iron Com- 
pany, ten years having been spent in charge of such work. Coming to 
the Pacific coast in 1881, Mr. Miller entered the employ of the Oregon 
Improvement Company, now known as the Pacific Coast Company, having 
charge of the establishment of their coal bunkers in San Francisco and 
later in Portland. He was next employed by the Columbia & Puget Sound 
Railroad Company, which be represented for many years, and after the 
great fire of this city he had charge of the rebuilding of all their works 
here, including coal bunkers, warehouses, docks, shops, roundhouses. On 
the completion of this work, however, he resigmed his position in order to 
spend some time in travel, and after his return four months later resumed 
his former connections and took charge of the construction of the company's 
buildings at Port Townsend, Anacortes and Olympia. Severing his con- 
nection with the Columbia & Puget Sound Railroad Company, Mr. Miller 
then began the arduous task of clearing a tract of land wliicb be had pur- 
chased near Seattle, .'uid as time passed by be succeeded in rcniining its 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 353 

dense growth of native timber, also placed the land under an excellent state 
of cultivation, planted an orchard and in many ways improved the farm. 
Ill 1897, however, he returned to his former occupation, and in 1901 or- 
ganized the Miller & Geske Construction Company, of which he was made 
the president. Among- the many important works which this company have 
constructed may be mentioned the power house at Leshi Park, the rebuild- 
ing of the Schwabacker dock and warehouse, the Broad street dock and the 
dock for the Chlopeck Fish Company, the J. B. Agen dock, the New Col- 
man dock, the fire-boat slip and many foundations for bridges and other 
pile driving work in and around Seattle. They also erected the two large 
coal bunkers in this city, and had charge of all bridge work on the water 
front when the Seattle & International Railroad was being builded. In 
1886 Mr. Miller had suffered the loss of an arm and he tliai purchased the 
old stand of John Sullivan, carrying on that business for several years, 
when he was induced by the Seattle & International Railroad Company 
to return and resume his former relations. 

The marriage of Mr. Miller was celebrated in Chester county, Penn- 
sylvania, on the 9th of October. 1873, when Rebecca Savage became his 
wife. She is a daughter of Davis Savage, who for many years served as 
a squire, as did also her grandfather. Seven children have blessed the 
union of our subject and his wife, as follows : Davis A., a merchant of 
Seattle ;■ Chanceford, a painter by occupation; Edna M., the wife of A. T. 
Schmidt, of Louisville, Kentucky; Ina C. and Marguerette, both attending 
school ; two of the children have passed away, Charles Leroy, the first bom, 
and J. Harley, both of whom died in early childhood. The political sup- 
port of Mr. Miller is given to the Democratic party, and he is a member 
of the Chamber of Commerce of Seattle. 

EDWARD OTTO SCHWAGERL. 

No foreign born citizen can become the president of the United States, 
but this is almost the only limit placed upon the ambitions and efforts of 
America's adopted sons. The field of business is limitless, and to-day many 
of the leaders of commerce, of manufacture and in professional and military 
life are tho.'^e who have had their nativity in foreign lands and have crossed 
the Atlantic to ally their interests with this great and growing republic, 
where the path to public honor is the road of public usefulness and ability. 
One of the most distinguished landscape gardeners of all America is Ed- 
ward O. Schwagerl. The beaut v of the new world, especially in the cities, 



354 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

has been largely enhanced and augmented by his efforts, as he has exer- 
cised his art, not in supplanting nature, but in supplementing it by the knowl- 
edge of a higher civilization and by directing the natural forces in a way 
that will present the most pleasing results of fomi, color, symmetry and 
entire harmony. 

Mr. Schwagerl. after having been an important factor in the develop- 
ment of park and boulevard systems of the east and middle states, is now 
devoting his energies to a similar work of a very important character in 
the northwest, and Seattle is fortunate to have secured his residence and 
ser\-ices in outlining a system of parks and driveways which, if completed, 
will be unsurpassed for scenic effects and natural beauties. A native of 
Wurtzburg, Bavaria. Mr. Schwagerl was born January 14, 1842, his parents be- 
ing Leonard and Madaline Schwagerl. During his infancy his parents removed 
across the border to Paris, and at an early age his love of the beautiful in 
nature and art was strongly manifest and was gratified in many of the 
art palaces of France. It has been the dominant influence in his life, and 
through his development of his latent powers he has risen to a position' 
hardly second to any in the United States. His early education was ob- 
tained from private tutors, and his leisure time not demanded by his te.xt 
books was mostly spent in visiting the art halls and palaces and the parks 
and squares of the cities. At the age of twelve years he came alone to 
New York city to join his brother, with the purpose of accompanying him 
to Costa Rica, but his brother failed to meet him in the eastern metropolis 
and thus he found himself alone and penniless in the great city, unable to 
speak a word of English and with no friend to whom he could go for as- 
sistance. Making his way through the streets of the city he chanced upon 
a French restaurant at the corner of Fulton and Broadway, where he se- 
cured employment at nine dollars a month. While there he met Mr. Clapp, 
proprietor of the Everett House, who was impressed by the foreign boy 
and gave him employment, making him a member of the family. There 
he remained for a year, when he became the protege of George Dow. with 
whom he made his home until nineteen years of age, meanwhile being em- 
ployed as salesman for several years in the stores of A. T. Stewart and 
Schwechard & Kessel. 

At the age of nineteen Mr. Schwagerl entered a school at Tilton, New 
Hampshire, where he spent several years in pursuing a select course of study. 
His teachers believed he had a decided calling for the ministry, and used 
their influence to induce him to enter that calling, but after mature and 
conscientious deliberation he gave up that idea. Soon after leaving school 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 35 5 

in 1865 he went to Paris with Messrs. Dows & Guild, of Boston, and while 
there was tendered a position by the French architect. Mens Mulat, who 
was laying out extensive public grounds in the Paris Universal Exposition. 
He remained with Mulat for a year aiid then returned to America, locating 
in Hartford, Connecticut, where he accepted a position with Jacob Weiden- 
mann, a noted landscape architect, who had charge of the city parks of 
Hartford. He also prepared a treatise on landscape gardening, but received 
no credit for this work, as it was published under his employer's name. 
After remaining in Hartford for eighteen months he concluded to try the 
western country and located at Omaha, Nebraska, where he established him- 
self in business and remained for a j-ear. He was then called to St. Louis 
to take charge of the work of laying out and improving the parks and boule- 
vards of that city. He laid out most of the parks there and was the or- 
ganizer of the board of park commissioners. Included in his work there 
are the noted Lindell boulevard. Van Deventer Place and many other public and 
private parks and grounds, and in connection with Mr. Leitingwell he selected 
the grounds for Forest Park. In 1872 his services were solicited by Hon. 
William J. Gordon, of Cleveland, who wished him to assume charge of his 
private grounds which afterward became the public parks. He did all the 
engineering and artistic work for the Gordon park, since given to the city: 
also has since formulated the plan for a regular system of parks and boule- 
vards in that city, and laid out the Wayne, Payne and Eels parks and 
Rockefeller grounds, all being evidences of his superior skill. He was like- 
wise solicited to go to Chicago to assume charge of the park system there, 
but, unwilling to supplant its incumbent, he remained in Ohio until about 
1888 or i88g, when he was chosen l)y Mr. Henry Failing, of Portland, 
Oregon, who has been searching the east for a competent and skilled archi- 
tect to survey and make complete plans for the Riverview cemetery of Port- 
land. He spent some six months in making plans and doing topographical 
work and then returned to the east, but after a brief perioil he again came 
tu the Pacific coast, arriving in Seattle in September, 1889, .stopping in 
the meantime in Lincoln, Nebraska, to take charge of some city work, which 
claimed his attention for four months. 

After coming to the coast he decided to establish a high class horticul- 
tural business, and procured land at Kingston for that purpose, making a 
fine collection of foreign and domestic plants, trees and shrubs. He was 
called to Tacoma to take charge of public parks and make the plans for 
Point Defiance Park of six hundred acres ; Wright Park of thirty acres : 
University Place, residence park of twehe hundred acres; and Olympic 



3 56 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

boulevard. His public work so interfered with his private operations that 
he gave up his horticultural business, and many of his choice and rare plants 
and shrubs may now be found in Kinnear Park, which is one of the choicest 
gems in Seattle's crown. Removing to the city of Seattle, Mr. Schwagerl 
accepted the position of superintendent and engineer of the park and laid 
out Kinnear Park, made the plans for Denny Park and laid out the city 
park. All this has been done in addition to much landscape gardening at 
the homes of many of the most prominent and wealthy citizens of Seattle. 
Indeed the city owes much of its adornment to the efforts of Mr. Schwagerl, 
who has devoted his entire life to this work, until it seems that he has almost 
reached perfection. Not only has he a most comprehensive and thorough 
knowledge of the great principles of rhechanical science, as embodied in 
civil engineering and kindred subjects, but has a love of beauty and apprecia- 
tion of color, form and harmony without which no one can hope to attain 
success as a landscape artist. His reputation extends throughout the entire 
country, placing him among the most prominent and original representa- 
tives in America. 

On the i8th of July, 1894, Mr. Schwagerl was united in marriage to 
Miss Frances McKay, of Tacoma. In his political views he is a Republi- 
can, but as may be inferred he has no time or inclination to take an active 
part in political afifairs. In addition to his work as a civil engineer, archi- 
tect and landscape gardener, he is a painter of landscape plans and views 
and has a fine studio in his home. He is now interested in a work which for 
magnitude, scope and beauty W'ill eclipse everything that he has already- 
accomplished — the construction of a park and boulevard system for Seattle 
that will not only connect various parks of the city but will also embrace 
drives along the shore of Lake Washington and through some of the most 
scenic and beautiful scenery of which America can boast, the whole boule- 
vard system to cover thirty-five miles. Already many of Seattle's most 
prominent and public spirited citizens are deeply interested in the plan, and 
Mr. Schwagerl seems in a fair way to realize what but a few years ago was 
deemed the dream of an idealist. However, there is nothing of the dreamer 
about him. He is intensely practical as w-ell as a lover of beauty and art. 
and his work in the world in the establishment of parks has benefited thou- 
sands in the cities and will be a monument to him through coming ages, 
more enduring than any monument of marble or stone. Mr. Schwagerl 
claimed H. P. Blavatsky as his most esteemed and honored teacher in mat- 
ters of ethics and philosophy, closely studying for sixteen years her inval- 
uable works, such as "The Key to Theosophy" and her "Secret Doctrines," 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 357 

linked with her personal papers and teachings. He insists that pure the- 
osophy is the proper bond between ethics and philosophy, the only solid 
basis for religion. 

ELLIS DeBRULER. 

Ellis DeBruler, who is filling the office of city attorney of Seattle and 
has long been an active member of the bar at this place, was born in DuBois 
county, Indiana, on the 25th of August, 1863. He comes of an old Ameri- 
can family of French ancestry. His grandfather. Wesley DeBruler, re- 
jnoved from North Carolina to Indiana in the year 181 6, and became one 
of the pioneer settlers of DuBois county, identified with agricultural work. 
There he cleared and developed a farm and became a leading citizen in 
his community. His son, John H. DeBruler, also carried on agricultural 
pursuits. He was a Republican in his political affiliations and had firm 
faith in the party principles, but never sought office. He married Eliza- 
beth Downey, a daughter of the Rev. L. D. Downey, one of the first settlers 
of DuBois county, Indiana, and of this union five children were born, but 
the subject of this review is the only one now living west of the Mississippi 
river. The father died in the year 1891, at the age of si.xty-eight years 
but the mother, Elizabeth A. DeBruler, is still living. 

in the public schools of his native county Ellis DeBruler began his 
education, which he afterward continued in the Cumberland L'niversity at 
Lebanon, Tennessee, his mother's father being a minister of the Cumberland 
Presbyterian church. He pursued his literary education vvith the idea of 
entering the law , and won the degree of Bachelor of Laws. He began prac- 
tice in Rockport, Indiana, in 1889, remaining a member of the .bar at that 
place for four years, but the reports he had heard of the Puget Sound 
country attracted him to the northwest, and making a trip here he was 
so pleased with the country and its future outlook that he decided to re- 
main and formed a partnership. He has been a resident of Seattle since 
1893 ^"'^l ^or fi'^'^ years has served as city attorney. His practice is of a general 
character. The zeal with which he has de\oted his energies to his pro- 
fession, the careful regard evinced for the interests of his clients, and an 
assiduous and unrelaxing attention to all the details of his cases, have brought 
him a large business and made him very successful in its conduct. His 
arguments have elicited warm commendation, not only from his associates 
at the bar, but also from the bench. He is a very able writer; his briefs 
always show^ wide research, careful thought, and the best and strongest 



358 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

reasons which can be urged for his contention, presented in cogent and 
logical form, and illustrated by a style usually lucid and clear. 

To some extent Mr. DeBruler is interested in property in the west, 
believing it a good investment, owing to the growing condition of this 
section of the country. He owns two residences in the city, one on Twen- 
tieth avenue and one at Green lake. He is a Republican in politics, active 
and diligent in support of the party and he has attended many conventions. 
While in Indiana he served as deputy prosecuting attorney. His long ex- 
perience in connection with the city offices has made him invaluable in the 
position during the wonderful growth of the past five 3'ears. A large 
.amount of legal business has been brought to the office and one not well 
informed concerning such duties could not capably attend to the exten- 
sive legal interests of which Mr. DeBruler has oversight. His ability and 
skill are widely acknowledged, and the public and the press accord to him a 
leading place in the ranks of the legal fraternity of Seattle. Socially he 
is connected with the Knights of Pythias and with the Benevolent and 
Protective Order of Elks. He is a man of genial and pleasing disposition 
and wherever he goes he wins friends. 

HANS J. CLAUSSEN. 

It will assuredly be not uninteresting to obser\e in the series of biog- 
raphical sketches appearing in this volume the varying national origin and 
early environment of the men who have made their way to positions of 
prominence and success in connection with the professional and industrial 
activities of life. In no Ijetter way can we gain a conception of the diverse 
elements which have entered into our social, professional and commercial 
fabric, and which will impart to the future American type features which 
cannot be conjectured at the present time. We have had an American type 
in the past; we shall have a distinctively national character in the future, 
but for the present, amalgamation of the varied elements is proceeding and 
ihe final result is yet remote. From the great empire of Germany have come 
to the American republic a class of citizens from which our nation has had 
much to gain and nothing to lose, and the extraction of the subject of this 
sketch may be sought for among the vigorous and intellectual natures which 
have made Germany what it is to-day, and he may well take pride in his 
ancestral record, for it has been one bespeaking strong and worthy man- 
hood and gentle and earnest womanhood, as one generation has followed 
another. Mr. Claussen holds prestige as one of the essentially representa- 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 559 

tive business men of the city of Seattle, being" prominently concerned in 
industrial enterprises of marked scope and importance and having shown 
that inflexible integrity and honorable business policy which invariably be- 
get objective confidence and esteem. Progressive, wide-awake and discrim- 
inating in his methods, he has achieved a notable success through normal 
channels of industry, and to-day is president, treasurer and manager of the 
Claussen Brewing Association at Interbay, a suburban district of Seattle, 
and also vice-president of the Diamond Ice & Storage Company, whose busi- 
ness has likewise extensive ramifications. 

Mr. Claussen is a native of the province of Holstein, Germany, where 
he was born on the 13th of November, 1861, being a son of Csecilia M. and 
Peter Jacob Claussen, representative of stanch old German stock. Our 
subject prosecuted his studies in the schools of his native province until he 
had attained the age of ten years, when he accompanied his parents on their 
emigration to America, the family locating in the city of San Francisco, Cali- 
fornia, where he continued his educational work, as did he later in Dixon, 
that state, the family home having been on a farm for the greater portion of 
his youth. After completing the curriculum of the high school he entered a 
business college, where he finished a thorough commercial course and thus 
amply fortified himself for taking up the active duties of life. In 1882 Mr. 
Claussen took a position as bookkeeper for the Fredericksburg Brewing 
Company in San Jose, California. In 1884 he began learning the details of 
the brewing business, and later he passed about two years in the employ of 
the National Brewing Company of San Francisco, gaining a thorough ex- 
perience in all branches of the industry and thus equipping himself in an ad- 
mirable way for the management of the important enterprise in which he is 
now an interested principal. In 1888, in company with E. F. Sweeney, Mr. 
Claussen effected the organization of the Claussen, Sweeney Brewing Com- 
pany in Seattle, and business was conducted under that title until 1893, when 
the company disposed of the plant and business. In 1892 Mr. Claussen 
associated himself with Messrs. Charles E. Crane and George E. Sackett in 
the organization of the Diamond Ice & Storage Company, of which our sub- 
ject became vice-president at the time of its inception and in that ofiice he has 
since served, the enterprise having grown to be one of importance and ex- 
tensive operations. In March, 1901, was formed a stock company which 
was incorporated under the title of the Claussen Brewing Association, with 
a capital oi fifty thousand dollars, which was later increased to two hundred 
and fifty thousand, and the company erected a fine brewing olant at Interbay 
and have here engaged in the manufacture of a very superior lager beer, the 



36o REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

excellence of the product and the effective niethtxls of introduction having 
gaineil to the concern high reputation and a most gratifying supporting pat- 
lonage. which extends throughout Washington and contiguous states. The 
equipment of the plant is of the most modern and approved type and in every 
process and detail of manufacture the most scrupulous care is given, insur- 
ing absolute purity, requisite age and proper flavor, so that the popularit\- 
of the brands of beer manufactured is certain to increase. The annual ca- 
pacity of the brewery is sixty thousand barrels, and the plant is one of the 
best in the northwest, the enterprise being a credit to the executive ability 
and progressive ideas of the gentleman who inaugurated the same. 

Mr. Claussen has been a resilient of Seattle since 1888, and from the 
.^tart he has maintained a lively interest in all that concerns the progress and 
material prosperit_\- of the city, being known as an alert and public spirited 
citizen and able business man, and holding" unqualified confidence and esteem 
in the communit}'. He has been an active factor in the councils of the Demo- 
cratic party, but in local affairs maintains a somewhat independent attitutle, 
rather than manifesting a pronounced partisan spirit. In 1901 he was the 
Democratic nominee for member of the lower house of the state legistlature, 
but as the district in which he was thus placed in nomination is overwhelm- 
ingly Republican in its political complexion he met defeat, together with the 
other candidates on the ticket. Fratenally he is prominently identified with 
the Fraternal Order of Eagles, the Seattle Turnverein society and the Ger- 
man Benevolent society, in each of which he has held office. He was also 
one of the organizers of the Mutual Heat & Light Company in 1902, and 
has ever stood ready to lend his influence and definite co-operation in support 
of legitimate business undertakings and worthy projects for the general good. 
Jn 1892 he erected his fine residence on Boren avenue, and this he still owns, 
though he now makes his home at Interbay, in order that he may be more 
accessible to the brewerv. o\er which he maintains a i^cncral super\'ision. 
He is a voung man of forceful indixiduality and the success which has beai 
Iiis indicates most clearly his facility in the practical application of the talents 
and powers which are his. In the city of Seattle, on October 10. 1891, Mr. 
Claussen was united in marriage to Miss Emma Meyer, who was born in 
Hamburg. (lermany. 

REV. KR.\NCIS X. PREFONT.VINE. 

'Ihe tales of romance and .idvenlurc tlo not contain any more remark- 
able facts than does the history of the men who, in behalf oi religious prin- 
ciples, carried their work into the wild districts of the west to reclaim it for 



- ''^1^- ^^esw * 






■'c^^(y%. 




'^ 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 361 

purposes of Christianity. Rev. Francis X. Prefontaine established the 
Catholic rehg-ion in Seattle and has been untiring in his work in behalf of the 
church. He is now the pastor of Our Lady of Good Hope, at Third avenue 
south and Washington street, which church was established by him and has 
been developed to its splendid proportions through his earnest and conse- 
crated efforts. 

Father Prefontaine was born in Montreal. Canada, in 1838, and his 
parents were natives of that countr\'. He pursued his literary education in 
Nicolett College, which is located midway between Quebec and Montreal. 
He finished his studies there in 1859 and then matriculated in the LeGrand 
Seminary, of Montreal, pursuing a theological course, and was one of three 
hundred students. On the 20th of November, 1863, he was ordained at the 
seminary and afterward started immediately for the Pacific coast by way of 
the Isthmus of Panama, six weeks being consumed in making the trip. 
However, he arrived safely on Puget Sound and was the first priest ap- 
pointed to labor for the white people of this northwestern district, a few mis- 
sionaries having previously begiui their labors among the Indians. Father 
l^refontaine resided first in Steilacoom, where a military post had been es- 
tablished. After ten months spent at that point he removed his head -quarters 
to Port Townsend, and visited the entire Sound country from that place, 
traveling in canoes with the Indians and sleeping on the shores of the streams 
\\'herever night overtook them. A trip of this kind covered three of four 
months. In 1867 he decided that there was no bright future for Port Town- 
send and, although Seattle comprised only about five hundred inhabitants, he 
l^elieved that there was a .spirit of Christian development here that was bound 
to conquer in the end and he decided to locate at this place. He therefore 
rented a residence on Third avenue between Jefferson and James streets, a 
building containing three rooms, and he converted two of them into a chapel. 
At his first meeting there were but three people in attaidance. but through 
personal effort he soon secured the attendance of many others and the church 
gradually grew ixjth in numerical and spiritual strength. 

In the winter of 1868-9 Father Prefontaine began clearmg the ground 
upon which his church now stands. It was all covered with timber and it 
required the combined labors of three men for three months to clear the four 
lots. One tree which Father Prefontaine cut down himself towered to the 
height of two hundred and twenty feet and he used it in the foundation of 
the church. It required him two days, however, to fell this tree. There was 
a creek crossing the place and this fact had been recognized by the sailors of 
the Decatur, when, in 1856, that .sloop of war came to the relief of the settlers 
23 



362 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

who were in sore straits because of the Indian attacks. Tlie sailors set a 
barrel to catch some fresh water liere, and when clearing the land Father 
Prefoiitainc found relics of their visit; not onlv the I)arrel, but a couple of 
rusty bayonets and a large key ten inches in length which he holds as a relic 
of these troublesome times. It had probably been the key to the storehouse 
aboard the boat. Bullets and shells were also found on the land showing 
tiiat this had been the ground where serious work had been done in pioneer 
times. In March, 1869, Father Prefontaine secured the material here froni 
which to build the first house of worship, which extended thirty-six feet on 
Third avenue at the corner of Washington and extended back a distance of 
sixty feet. When completed the house had a seating capacity for one hun- 
dred |)eople and had been erected at a cost of three thousand dollars. The 
building is now the center of the present church of Our Lady of Good Hope. 
This building was a large one for the time and was entirely finished inside 
with stucco work. In the erection of the building- Father Prefontaine took 
ci very active part as a carpenter, as a painter and even in carving the stucco 
work. There is some carving still in the building that he did many years 
ago. The building completed cost four thousand dollars, which sum was 
raised by fairs up and down the Sound- Father Prefontaine held a fair in 
Seattle at which he raised eight hundred dollars and other fairs were held 
at Port Gamble, Port Ludlow and Utsaladdy, and within about four months 
the entire sum of money neerled was raised with the exception of about one 
thousand dollars. In 1882 it became necessary to enlarge the edifice and 
Father Prefontaine remodeled and rebuilt it as it now appears, executing this 
work at an outlay of sixteen thousand dollars. He retained Lhe former build- 
ing and steeple, however, in the construction of the new house of worship. 
The building was completed in 1883. A pipe organ was acquired for it at 
a cost of twenty-five hundred dollars. This was the only parish in Seattle 
until 1889, when a new i>arish was formed and the church of the Sacred 
Heart was established and the building erected. In 1876 a contract to take 
care of the sick was secured from King county and Father Prefontaine called 
the Sisters of Providence to carry on the work. He then purchased a house 
and lot for the sisters and aided in transforming it into the first hospital, do- 
ing considerable work on the building himself. 

In 1S80 he persuaded the sisters of the Holy Name to conic and take up 
the work of education, having in the meantime purchased a half block ol land 
on Second avenue for sixty-eight hundred <lo!lars. He tiicn put up a build- 
ing between Seneca and University streets, electing this for the u.se of the 
teacl'.crs. at a cost of three thousand dullars. In 18^^ owing to the en- 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 363 

cToachmeiit of the business district upon tlic site of the scitool, it was sold 
for thirty-five tliousand dollars and a block was purchased at Seventh and 
Jackson streets. Parochial schools were held in the basement of the church 
tmtil 1890, when Father Prefontaine built the brick building on Sixth and 
Spring streets and then discontinued the holding of the school in the church 
basement. Along the lines of clinrch work he has labored earnestly and his 
efforts have been of benefit in extending Catholic influence and work. He 
built the first church in La Connor, of which he was both the architect and 
the carpenter. 

Father Prefontaine has a fine librar}-, possessing literary tastes which 
"nave lieen met by extensive reading, making him a well informed man. In 
the early da}-s he delighted to take a tramp through the woods with his gun 
and had not a little reputation as a successful hitnter. It has been through 
this means and through reading that he has sought recreation from the stren- 
uous duties of his pastorate, but his energies have been given in an almost un- 
divided manner to his church work and the parish of Our Lady of Good 
Hope, now one of the strongest in the northwest, is the result of his energy 
and devotion to the cause of Christianity. He was a pioneer in introducing 
Catholicism into this city and this portion of the state, and the growth of the 
church here is largely due to his efforts. 

MILO A. ROOT. 

The ancestors of this gentleman were Englishmen and were among the 
early settlers of the Massachusetts Bay colony. His great-grandfather, 
Israel Root, was a Revolutionary soldier; he was a member of the Baptist 
church and lived to a good old age. His son Henry was a soldier in the 
second war \\ith Great Britain, and one of the incidents of the war is fam- 
ily history. He had crossed the Niagara river with twenty companions to 
procure some fruit, Init they were surprised by British ca\-alry and forced 
to a hasty retreat, tearing up the bridge to prevent pursuit ; th.e enemy opened 
fire, and one of their l)ullets came so close to Mr. Root as to cut off a por- 
tion of his beard, but the Americans with the aid of their artillery finally 
obliged the British to retire. After the wrir Mr. Root resided in Allegany 
county. New York, for the remainder of his life. It was in this last named 
county that William H. Root was bom, but he later became a prominent 
farmer and stock-raiser of Barrc Center. Orleans county. New York. He 
^••tiil resides there in his sixty-ninth year, and has passed a life of consider- 
able influence in his cnmnuinitv. His wife was Miss Cordelia Halrovd. a 



364 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

native of Cortland county, New Vork, and daughter of Rev. William Hal- 
royd, a minister of the Baptist church; this gentleman was a fine scholar, 
especially well versed in the ancient lang^iages, and of English descent. 
His wife was Amelia Knickerbocker, who was descended from one of the 
oldest Knickerbocker families of New York. There were seven children 
bom of this union, and five are now living. 

The only member of the family residing on the Pacific coast is Milo 
A. Root, who was born to the above mentioned parents while the\' were 
residing in Bureau county, Illinois, on January 22, 1863. He accompanied 
the family on their removal to Orleans county, New York, in 1876, and it 
was there that he finished his literary education, being a graduate of the 
Albion high school in 1882. He at once took up the study of the law with 
the Hon. John H. White, a prominent jurist of western New York and 
also of high standing in the grand lodge of the Independent Order of Odd 
Fellows in that state. Young Root also graduated from the Albany Law 
School, and also read law in the office of the present attorney general of 
New York, and in the fall of 1883 came to Olympia, Washington, and so 
thoroughly had he mastered his studies that in the following year, upon 
the report of the committee of examination, of which Judge Hanford was 
chairman, he was admitted to practice by Judge Hoyt. During the thir- 
teen years of his residence as a practicing attorney in Olympia he served 
two years as probate judge of Thurston county, and was prosecuting at- 
torney for a similar period. Judge Root came to Seattle in 1897. and 
during the following year was in partnership with Judge Hoyt, but from 
then till January, 1900, he practiced alone; at the latter date the firm of 
Root, Palmer and Brown was organized, of which Judge Root is the senior 
member. He has been ver)- successful in his law practice and is the attorney 
for many large corporations. As a Republican he has taken an active part 
in the campaigns, has been a member of the state conventions and of the 
Republican state central committees. He is a Royal Arch Mason, a mem- 
ber of the Elks, the Woodmen of the World, the Knights of Pythias and 
the Royal Arcanum. 

In 1890 Judge Root was married to Miss E. Lansdale of Olympia: 
her father was Dr. R. H. Lansdale. a prominent physician and one of the 
pioneer settlers of Whidbey Island, \\'ashington ; he was a warm friend 
and associate of General Isaac Stevens, the first governor of the territorj-, 
and assisted in negotiating many of the Indian treaties. Mr. and Mrs. 
Root are the parents of four children, Bernice C, Hortense M,, Milouise 
and Anna E. Judge Root is tlie c^wner of considera1)le city property, and 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 365 

is interested in several companies, and has invested money lor eastern capi- 
talists. He is a member of the Sons of the Revolution, and both he and his 
wife are members of the Congregational church. He is an enthusiastic 
Sunday-school worker, having for some years taught an interesting class 
numbering over one hundred young ladies and gentlemen. 

HARALD BLEKUM. 

The rough and precipitous land of Norway has ever been productive of 
the world's best seamen, the earliest records of histoiy recounting the daring- 
adventures of the hardy Norsemen in their viking ships ; and some of this 
blood still flows in the veins of Captain Blekum, all his life a sailor and now 
manager of the firm, Stevenson & Blekum Tug Company, proprietors of the 
tugs Mystic, Harry S., Doctor, Oscar B. and Magda, and doing a general 
towing and jobbing business, furnishing ballots, renting skows and barges, 
of which they have a large number. W. H. Stevenson is the secretary and 
treasurer of the company. 

Captain Blekum was born at Horten, Norway, November 30, 1865; the 
blood of his ancestors asserted itself early in life, and at the age of fourteen 
lie went to sea as a deck boy on a deep sea voyage lasting about thirty-five 
months, in the course of which he visited Scotland, England, Russia, the 
West Indies and Panama, and returned rated as a seaman before the mast. 
After his return he entered the school of navigation at Mandal, Norway, 
where he completed a thorough technical training and received first class 
papers. He then became mate of a vessel on a voyage to France and then re- 
turned to his home in Norway. His father, Olaus Blekum, had meanwhile 
removed to Lindesnaes, to take charge of the government lighthouse there. 
.'X.nd here it may be well to speak a few words of the father of our worthy 
subject. He had started in the navy of Norway as a lad, and passing through 
all the various degrees he became an officer when King Oscar was yet a boy; 
he was afterwards promoted to the lighthouse department and until 1878 
was traveling inspector of the lighthouses; he was then placed in charge 
of the lighthouse at Lindesnaes, one of the largest in the world, which posi- 
tion he still retains. Our subject, after the event last mentioned, served as 
second mate of three different vessels, cruising to France and Spain and in 
the Baltic; he was soon promoted to first mate and engaged in navigation 
in the North Sea until 1884, in which year he came to America. From here 
he made three voyages in the Brittanic from New York to Liverpool. In 
the fall of 1884 he came to the Pacific coast and engaged in navigation on 



366 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

the Pacific until 1889. In that year Mr. Blekuni took out his full naturalization 
papers, since which time he has heen on tlie Sound ; in J 890 lie became mas- 
ter and commander of various vessels in the Sound coasting trade, among 
them the Michigan, Vulga, Chinook and the Mystic; and lor the last three 
years he has been harbor pilot for all the large naval and merchant vessels. 
The present company was organized in 1890 as the Stevenson Tug & Barge 
Company, and Captain Blekum became a partner in 1893. 

Mr. Blekum is one of the most thorough business men and highly re- 
spected citizens of Seattle; he bears an enviable reputation as an expert navi- 
gator, and his long and successful experience as a seaman makes him abso- 
lutely reliable. His marriage occurred on the 8th of August, 1891, Minnie 
Thomson becoming his wife, and she was the mother of four children : Os- 
car, Clara, Edna and Karen Petrea. In the same year he erected his com- 
fortable and sightly residence at 161 1 Tenth avenue, west, where he lives 
m the happy enjoyment of all the domestic comforts. Mr. Blekum was con- 
firmed and reared in the Lutheran church ; in politics he has maintained an 
independent position. He is now candidate for Norwegian vice-consul in 
Seattle. 

DAVID W. BOWEN. 

The honored subject of this memoir is closely identified with the busi- 
ness interests of Seattle, and is now holding the important position of secre- 
tary and treasurer of the Puget Sound Sheet Metal Works. He is a native 
of the state of Ohio, born on the 8th of December, 1867, and is a son of John 
and Elizabeth (James) Bowen, also natives of the Buckeye state. Of their 
three children our subject is the only one who grew to years of maturity, and 
the days of his boyhood and youth were spent in the state of his nativity, 
where he received a liberal education in its public schools. He also became 
a student in Mount Union College, in which institution he graduated in 1887. 
During the two years succeeding his graduation he found employment with 
the Lacock Mill Company as manager of their sales department. The year 
1889 witnessed his arrival in Seattle, and during his first eiglit months in this 
city he occupied the position of bookkeeper. Returning thence to Cleveland, 
Ohio, he w-as there engaged in a similar capacity for seven months, and since 
that time he has made his home continuously in Seattle, the first year after 
his return being spent with the MacDougall & Sons Company, .\fter filling 
various other positions he was made dqjuty collector of internal revenues for 
the district of Oregon, and after three years of service therein he resigned 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 367 

his position to establish the Puget Sountl Sheet Metal Works, which was or- 
_q;anize(.l on the 3cl of March, 1901. This concern sustains an unassailable 
reputation in business circles and is one of the leading establishments of its 
kind in the city. Their large and well arranged factory is located on the 
water front at 1318-22 Western avenue, and their ofifices are at the same 
place. Mr. Bowen is a young man of exceptional business ability, and in 
trade circles he enjoys an enviable reputation. 

The marriage of Mr. Bowen was celebrated in Seattle on the 25th of 
December, 1890, Miss Nettie V. Stevens(,)n becomini^' his wife. She is a 
native of Pennsylvania. One son, Harry S., has come to brighten and bless 
their home. In his fraternal relations Mr. Bowen is a member of the Be- 
nevolent and Protective Order of Elks, of the Modem Woodmen of tli« 
World and is past regent of the Royal Arcanum. His political support is given 
to the Republican party, and although since attaining to mature years he has 
been an active worker in the ranks of his party he has never been an aspirant 
for political honors. He has been many times a delegate to the central 
committee. His life thus far has been a busy and useful one, characterized 
by generosity and kindness, by honor and integrity. 

CHARLES H. ALLMOND. 

Throughout life Charles H. .Allniond has been prominently identitied 
with the interests of the Pacific coast country, and is to-day one of the lead- 
ing business men of Seattle. A native son of the Golden state, his birth oc- 
curred in the city of Sacramento on the 15th of August, 1857, and he is a 
son of John G. and Lydia (Douglas) Allmond, natives respectively of Mich- 
igan and New York. The father remained in his native state until his 
twenty-third year and then made his way to California, sailing on the first 
screw-steamer which rounded the Horn, the Sarah Sands. In June, 1850, 
he engaged in mining and prospecting, which he carried on in connection 
with mercantile pursuits until 1852. In that year he returned to the east 
and was there married, returning thence with his bride to the Golden state, 
where he followed agricultural pursuits until his life's labors were ended in 
death, in 1867. To Mr. and Mrs. Allmond were born five children, namely: 
George D., a prominent rancher in California: Mary H., the deceased wife 
of A. C. Snyder; Charles H., the subject of this review; Katherine D., the 
wife of Mr. D. Hurlburt, of New York; and Douglas, editor and proprietor 
of the .\nacortes American at Anacortes, Washington. 

Charles H. Allmond remained with his parents on their ranch until 



368 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

1867, when he accompanied the family on its removal to Sacramento, 
there making his home until 1880. His early educational training was re- 
ceived in the city schools of Sacramento, and when fourteen years of age he 
entered the old Sacramento Union office, in the capacity of a clerk, thus con- 
tinuing for the following three years. When seventeen years of age he was 
given employment in the shops of the Central Pacific Railroad at Sacramento, 
where he remained for five years, and during that time mastered the \arious • 
branches of the pattern maker's trade and became a proficient workman. 
The year 1880 witnessed his arrival in Seattle, his first work in this city be- 
ing in the Columbia & Puget Sound Railroad shops, under J. M. Coleman, 
from whence he entered the Washington Iron Works. In 1882. in com- 
pany with W. R. Philips, he established a foundry and machine shop on Sec- 
ond and Jackson streets, but in 1889 Mr. iMlmond disposed of his interest 
tliere, and the concern afterward became known as the Vulcan Iron Works. 
Returning thence to his native state, he was for one year engaged in pros- 
pecting and mining in the Cascades, and in 1897 he went to Alaska, where 
for three years he resumed his mining operations. Prior to his removal to 
Alaska Mr. Allmond had served as foreman of the Moran Brothers pattern 
department for about five years, and after returing from the north again 
entered the same occupation, thus continuing until March, 1901. At that 
time he established his present business at 519 First avenue, south, but in 
January, 1902, removed to his present location. As a draughtsman and 
pattern-maker Mr. Allmond has built up a large and lucrative business, and 
has furnished most of the patterns for the various shops and foundries of 
the city. By his ballot he supports the men and measures of the Republican 
party, and has ever taken an active interest in all measures and movements 
pertaining to the advancement and upbuilding of the city of his choice, while 
on many occasions he has served as a delegate to conventions. He is widely 
and favorably known and is recognized as one of the representative men of his 
community. 

RICHARD S. JONES. 

Richard S. Jones is actixely connecteil with a profession wliich has im- 
portant bearing upon the progress and stable prosperity of any section or 
community, and one which has long been considered as conserving the public 
welfare by furthering the ends of justice and maintaining individual rights. 
His reputation as a lawyer has been won through earnest, lionest labor and 
his standing at the bar is a merited tribute to his ability. He now has a 
very large i)ractice, and his careful ]>rq)arati()n of cases is s\iiiplenientcd by 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 369 

a power of argument and forceful presentation of his points in the court 
rocni, so that he never fails to impress court or jur\' and seldom fails to gain 
the verdict desired. 

Mr. Jones is a native of the state of Minnesota, born February 2, 1861, 
and is of Welsh ancestry, the family having been founded in Virginia in 1652. 
The grandfather. Rev. S. Jones, was a leading bishop of the Methodist Pro- 
testant church and was born in Virginia in 1803. At an early date he went 
to Minnesota as a missionan' bishop there and was a prominent and active 
factor in establishing the churches of his faith m that new country. He mar- 
ried Miss Isabel Robinson, a member of the noted Robinson family of Wis- 
consn, and they became the parents of five children, of whom one, Mrs. Sam- 
uel Foress. of Minnesota, is still living. Richard Asbury Jones, the father 
of our subject, \\as born in La Fayette, Indiana, on the 22d of October, 1831. 
He married Miss Sarah McClellan, the great-granddaughter of John Har- 
ris, the founder of the city of Harrisburg, Pennslyvania, who received the 
property there as a grant from the crown and was a pioneer settler of that 
state. At one time he was captured by the Indians, tied to a tree and a fire 
was kindled around him but fortunately he was rescued by another band of 
Indians. Mr. Jones, the father of our subject, was educated in Wisconsin, 
and in 1850 crossed the plains to California, settling in San Jose, where he 
studied law and was admitted to practice in 1853. He practiced his i)rofes- 
?ion there until 1858, when he returned to the east, locating in Rochester, 
Minnesota. He became an eminent member of the profession in that state, 
taking an active part also in political work. He served his district in the 
state legislature of Minnesota and in 1884 he was a delegaie to the Demo- 
cratic National convention and seconded the nomination of Grover Cleveland 
for the presidency of the United States. The following year he was ap- 
Ijointed by President Cleveland to the position of chief justice of the tei-ritoiy 
of Washington. He had acquired the reputation of being one of the ablest 
lawyers in the state of Minnesota and in the discharge of his official duties 
in Washington he evinced a profound knowledge of the law, taking to the 
i)ench the verv highest qualifications for the most responsible office of the 
state government. His last opinion, given just before his death, was to the 
effect that the Woman's Rights Bill which had been passed by the legislature 
was in conriict with the United States Constitution, Washington thai being 
1 territory. His record as a judge was in harmony with his record as a man, 
the same being distinguished by unswerving integrity and a masterful grasp 
of every problem which presented itself for solution. Judge Jones departed 
this life Augu.st it! t888. dying of heart disease at the age of fifty-six years. 



370 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

His good wife passed away in 1879. They lived and died in tiie faith of tiie 
Methodist cluirch and their influence was ever on the side of ]irogress, cul- 
ture and intellectual and moral ad\ancement. They left four children, of 
whom three are yet living. M. K. Jones is the superintendent nf the Great 
Northern Road at Seattle. Isahel is residing in Rochester. Minnesota. The 
other daughter, Mrs. Edith II. Wheeler, died in N'akima. Washington, in 
1898. 

Richard Saxe Jones, the subject uf this review, pursued his literary etl- 
ucation in the public schools and in the University of Minnesota, after which 
he read law in his father's office for four years and in 1883 was admitted to 
practice. He then entered u]>c)n the jjrofession in Smith Dakota and was 
elected prosecuting attorney of his county in 1884, but the following year he 
resigned and returned to his old home in Rochester, where the son took up 
the father's practice and remained there until 1892. In that year he came to 
.Seattle and opened a law ofiice here, practicing alone until 1894, at which 
time the Brinker, Jones & Richards law firm was formed. I'he saiior part- 
ner was the United States attorney at that time. This business relationship 
was maintained until 1900 when Mr. Brinker and Mr. Richards went to Alas- 
ka, Mr. Jones remaining in Seattle in the enjoyment of a large practice. This 
has been his life work and he has attained a distinguished position in connec- 
tion with his chosen calling. He is now the attorney of numerous corpora- 
tions and makes a specialty of admiralty law. 

In 1885 Mr. Jones was happily married to Miss Helen Maude Taylor, 
of Bethel, Connecticut, a descendant of an old American family. This union 
was blessed with one son, Richard S., who is now a student in the high school 
of Seattle. Mrs. Jones departed this life in 1889 and nine years later, in 
1898, ^Fr Jones was again married, his second union being with Miss Mar- 
garet Barr, who was born in Indiana and was reared in .Minnesota. Her 
father was John Barr, a banker of the latter state and one of her brothers is 
professor of mechanical engineering in Cornell University, while another 
brother is state senatf)r in Minnesota .'uul ;i nieniber of the board of regents 
of the state normal .school. He is also engaged in the i)anking business. 
Mrs. Jones was a successful teacher in the kindergarten department of the 
state normal school prior to her marriage. She has become tlie mother of 
one daughter, Margaret Isabel. 

Mr. Jones has been a life-long Democrat and a prominent worker in the 
ranks of his party. He is also a leading Mason of the state of Washington 
having been made a member of the craft in Rochester Ltxlge. No. 21. F. & 
A. M., in t88v Since then he has received all of the degrees in both the 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 37 1 

York and Scottish Rites, the thirty-third degree having been conferred upon 
him in Seattle in 1898. He has filled nearly all of the subordinate offices in 
all the branches of the order and is a past deputy grand chancellor of the 
Knights of Pythias. He is also an honorary life member and is past exalted 
ruler of the Elks. Both have a large circle of friends in the city and in his 
profession .\lr. Jones has attained high honor. His legal learning, his ana- 
lytical mind, the readiness with which he grasps the points in an argument, 
all combine to make liim a very successful advocate and his comprehensive 
knowledge of the law makes him a wise counselor. 

CHRISTL\N HOFMEISTER. 

Throughout the history of our countr\' tlie German element in its popu- 
lation has been one of its best factors, and among those best known in Seattle 
is Christian Hofmeister, who for a number of years has occupied a very con- 
spicuous place anidug the leading business men. He is the founder and 
proprietor of the Washington Floral Company, whose extensive green- 
houses are located at Fortieth avenue and east Madison street. In Wurtem- 
berg, Germany, on July 10. 1848, Christian Hofmeister was born to Mat- 
thew and Frederica (Kamerer) Hofmeister, both also natives of that place. 
When fourteen years of age the son Christian was apprenticed to a florist at 
Stuttgart, with whom he remained for three years, there laying the founda- 
tion upon which he has built the superstructure of his life work. In 1868, 
when he had reached the age of twenty years, he bade adieu to the home and 
friends of his youth and sailed for the United States, and after his arrival on 
American soil he made his way to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, where he .secured 
employment with the large seed and floral company of J. R. & A. IMurdock. 
.So well did he discharge his duties which dexolved upon him in this capacity 
ihat on the expiration of three years' service he was appointetl to the ])osition 
of foreman, which he continued to fill for the following eight \ears. In the 
year 1889 he made his way to Seattle, where he soon secured a tract of land 
and established his present business which has grown from a small beginning 
to its present large proportions, and the Washington Floral Company now 
occupies an envialile position in the business circles of the city. They make 
a specialty of the raising of choice flowers and plants, the furnishing of cut 
flowers being one of the principal features of the business. Their various 
greenhouses require a covering of fifty thousand scpiare feet of glass and in 
addition to their large local trade they also ship extensively to the neighbor- 
ing states. Mr. Hofmeister produces only the choicest varieties of plants, 



372 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

carefully selected from the most reliable sources, and as a result of his years 
of experience and his conscientious dealings with his patrons he has estab- 
hshed a satisfactory and constantly increasing trade both at home and in the 
surrounding towns. 

The marriage of our subject was celebrated in Seattle on the 28th of 
July, 1 89 1, when Miss Anna A. Peterson became his wife. Three children 
have been born to brighten and bless their home, Annie Marie, Lillie Mar- 
guerite and Florence Catherine. The family reside in a comfortable and 
commodious residence in this city, which was completed in 1901. Mr. Hof- 
meister gives his political preference to the Republican party, but he excer- 
cises his right of franchise in tlie support of the men whom he regards as best 
qualified to fill positions of trust and responsibility. In his fraternal rela- 
tions he is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the 
Knights of Pythias, while religiously he is identified with the English Luth- 
eran church. He has a vviue acquaintance in this section of the state, and his 
honesty in all trade transactions, his reliability in discharging his duties of 
citizenship and his fidelity to the interests of private life have won him marked 
esteem. 

FRANK E. PELLS. 

Frank E. Pells is the efficient postmaster at Ballard, and he has been a 
factor in the upbuilding, advancement and improvement of the town almost 
from the establishment of the place. He was born in Rockford, Illinois, in 
;869. The ancestral history can be traced back through three generations, 
the first representative of the family in America coming from Germany. 
The grandmother on the paternal side bore the maiden name of Johnson and 
\vas a direct descendant of Commodore Johnson, who won distinction in the 
war of 1812, a man of remarkable size, as well as a brilliant naval officer. 
.Samuel E. Pells was born in Rockford, Illinois, and became superintendent 
of the tack factory of that place. In 1888 he removed to the west and en- 
gaged in ranching until his death, which occurred in November, 1900. His 
wife bore the maiden name of Jennie Hart, and was a daughter of Charles 
Hart, who was born in Carlisle, Scotland, in 1818, and came to America 
when about twenty years of age. ^Vhen passing through Chicago he was 
urged to locate there, but the town was so unprepossessing that he said he 
would not accept the location as a gift; instead, he took up his abode in 
Janesville, Wisconsin, and had a sheep pasture where the principal hotel and 
the park of that city are now found. He took a claim from the government, 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 373 

and his pataits are signed by James K. Polk, then president of the LJniteil 
States. Mr. Hart was one of the founders of both Janesville and Monroe,' 
\Visconsin, and an honored pioneer settler of that portion of the state, and 
he died in 1897. By the marriage of the parents of our subject they had 
four children : Charles H., who is now manager of the Pioneer Laundry 
Company; Frank E. ; Mrs. Cooper, of Ballard; and Fred, who is acting as 
bookkeeper for the Cedar Lumber Company of Seattle. 

In the public schools of his native city Frank E. Pells pursued his liter- 
ary education and afterward took a course in a business college. For four 
years he was connected with a tea company in Illinois and in Iowa and in the 
fall of 1889 he came to Ballard, the town having been founded in that year. 
He decided that the new hamlet was favorably located and that a good future 
was before it and he turned his attention to the real estate business. Later 
he became proprietor of a mill, which was afterward burned. Just prior to 
the great Klondike rush Mr. Pells took a trip to that region of Alaska, in 
1898, and ran pack trains from Skagway to Lake Bennett. In 1898, how- 
ever, he returned to Ballard and established a laundry and also purchased the 
store adjoining the postofifice. He conducted the latter enterprise until 1901, 
when he sold his store and organized the Pioneer Laundry Company and 
built the present building in which to conduct his business. He gives em- 
ployment to fifteen people there and his patronage is large and profitable. 

On the 1st of Julj^, 1901, Mr. Pells was appointetd postmaster of Bal- 
lard by President McKinley, and received a regular appomtenient on the 
1 6th of January, 1902, the latter being signed by President Roosevelt, so that 
he holds commissions bearing the signature of our late martyred president and 
of the present chief executive of the nation. During his incumbency the 
business of the office has increased fully one third, and the capacity of the 
office has been doubled. Mr. Pells is a very efficient, popular and active 
postmaster, having systematized the work of the office, which he conducts 
;ilong practical business lines. He is an active worker in the Republican 
ranks and was one of the nine men of the place who claimed to be a Republican 
when the Populist excitement of 1896 was at its height. He has served as a 
delegate to city and county conventions and takes much interest in city and 
county afTairs. He Ijelongs to the county central committee and has labored 
earnestly for the growth and success of his party, although r.p to the time of 
his appointment as postmaster he never sought or desired office for himself. 

Mr. Pells was married in Ballard to Miss Florence French, whose 
father. George W. French, is one of the honored pioneer settlers of this 
place and now a resident of Seattle. Their union has been blessed with four 



374 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

children, as folkjws: Samuel, Howell, Vera, and Louise, who died August 
•14, 1902. Mrs. Pells is connected with the Ladies of the Maccabees and 
with the Ladies' Relief Corps. Mr. Pells belongs to the order of the Knigiits- 
of Maccabees and to the Modern Woodmen of America. During the years 
of his residence in Ballard he has manifested a public spirited interest in 
everything pertaining to the general good. He has put forth earnest and 
discriminating efforts to advance the welfare of the town, and yet his policy 
has been conservative and never favoring anything in the way of a "mush- 
room" growth. The town acknowledges its indebtedness to him for his 
efforts in its behalf and regards him as a most capable officer, worthy the 
respect and confidence of his fellow men. 

REV. HERBERT H. GOWEN, V. R. (;. S. 

While it is true beyond peradventure that it is not an easy task to de- 
scribe adequately a man vyho has led an eminently active and busy life and 
who has attained to a position of high relative distinction in the more import- 
ant and exacting spheres of human endeavor; yet is it equally true that bi- 
ography finds its most perfect justification in the tracing and recording of 
such a life history, it is, then, with a full appreciation of all that is de- 
manded mu'i of the painstaking scrutiny that must be accorded each state- 
ment, and yet with a feeling of significant satisfaction, that the writer essays 
the task of touching briefly upon the details of the record of the character nf 
the able and devoted rector of Trinity church, Protestant Episcopal, in the 
city of Seattle. He has been an indefatigable and zealous worker in pro- 
moting both the temporal and spiritual growth of the parish over which he is 
placed in charge, while his influence in diocesan affairs has been potent fur 
good. A man of high intellectuality and unmistakable consecration to the 
work of the Divine Master, ever devoted to the mother church in all her 
gracious and beneficient functions, his life has been one of signal usefulness 
as a clergyman and a man. and this resume of his career cannot fail to be 
read with interest to church people and to all others who liave h.ad cogniz- 
ance of his earnest and effective endeavors. 

Herbert Henry Gowen is a native of England, ha\iiig been horn at 
Runham, Great Yarmouth, on the 2gth of May. 1864. His early education 
was secured in the schools of bis native place and effectively supj)lemented by 
a three years' course of study .it St. Augustine's College, Canterbury. His 
educational work was directed with a view to his entering upon missionary 
work in India, and he thus devoted special attention to the study of the ori- 



SEATTLE .AND KING COUNTY. 375 

c-ntal languages, beconiiag proticieiit in San,sciit and Arabic. He thereafter 
continued his studies and upon being examined as a candidate for holy or- 
ders, in 1886, he was at the head of the list of successful competitors on 
several subjects, including Hebrew, So closely did My. Gowcu apply him- 
self to stud^ that his health became much impaired, and it became imperative 
that he should abandon his plan of going to India, but in July, 1886, he 
went to the city of Honolulu, Hawaiian islands, and m December of the same 
\ear he was ordained to the priesthood by Rt. Rev. Alfred Willis, bishop of 
die diocese of Honolulu, and was forthwith made curate of the cathedral in 
die city mentioned. He entered vigorously upon the work, founded a mis- 
.»-ion church among the Chinese, becoming prolkient in the Chinese language, 
and in his earnest endeavors in the various departments of the church work 
were attended with most gratifying results. Mr. Gowen returned to Eng- 
land in 1890 and became curate in Great Yarmouth, his native jiarisb, while 
he also entered upon effective service as deputation fur the society for the 
propagation of the Gospel, in which connection he proceeded to British Colum- 
bia in 1892, He was there appointed curate of the cathedral of New West- 
minister, and m that city eventually effected the organization of a new parish, 
liiat of St. Barnabas. In May, 1894, Mr. Gowen received the crown ap- 
iwintnient as chaplain of the government penitentiary in British Columl)ia. 
and this incumbency he retained until 1896, when he resigned the same to 
accept his present charge, as lector of Trinity church, having since consecu- 
".ively presided over the jiarish and having materially vitalized its work in 
all departments, extending its field of influence and usefulness, augmenting 
the list of communicants ar.d e\er showing himself to be .inimated by that 
deei) human sympathy which is so essential in the makeup of those wlu) 
minister to "all sorts and conditions of men" as God's chosen ambassadors. 
Since coming to Seattle Mr. Gowen has founded or maintained three mis- 
sions in the city and suburbs — the church of the Sa\'ior at Tenth and Dear- 
born streets; St. Luke's mission at Renton ; and St. John's mission in West 
Seattle. The mother Trinity church has five hundred communicants, and 
its affairs were in most ]iroperor.s condition when, in January, 1902, the 
cliurch edifice was totally destroyed by fire, and when the ruins were being 
razed the rector nearlv lost l.is life, being struck on the head by a falling 
timber. As soon as he had recovered from his injuries he set himself vigor- 
ously to the task of raising funds for the erection of a new church, and he has 
been successful to such an extent that the new and modern building has now 
been completed, his parishioners and the citizens in general showing a desire 
to cn-operate as far as possible in the work. 



376 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

Mr. Gowen is a man of recondite attainments and high hterary ability, 
and his pubHshed works and articles have gained distinctive recognition as 
valuable contributions. Of his more important works may be mentioned 
the following: "Temperantia," a volume of essays, published in 1891 ; "Par- 
adise of the Pacific," 1892; "The Kingdom of Man," and ;i volume of ser- 
mons, 1893; and a series of articles in the Clergy-man's Magazine (Lon- 
don), entitled "Palingenesia, or the New Heaven and Earth; Fhe Revela- 
tion of the Things that are;" and "The Characteristic Symbols of the Apo- 
calypse." He has also published a series of Hawaiian stories and has con- 
tributed various articles on antiquarian and philological subjects. Since 
JS99 Mr. Gowen has Ijeen associate editor of the American Antiquarian 
Journal, published in the city of Chicago. From 1893 to 1896 he was presi- 
dent of the Royal City Art and Science Association of New Westminster, 
and while residing in British Columbia he gave considerable time and atten- 
tion to the exploration of Indian mounds and to investigating the botanical 
products of the province. In 1895 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Geo- 
graphical society. For the past two years Mr. Gowen has been president of 
the standing committee of the missionary district of Olympia and examining 
chaplain to the bishop. He represented the district of Olympia at the gene- 
ral convention of the Protestant Episcopal church at San Francisco in 1901. 
While in British Columbia Mr. Gowen became a member of the Masonic fra- 
ternity, being initiated in King Solomon's Lodge, and he now atifiliates with 
Ionic Lodge Xo. 90, F. S: A. M., in Seattle, and has held the office of chaplain 
of the same. 

On the 7th of January, 1892, Mr. Gowen was united in marriage to 
Miss Annie K. Green, who was born in Great Yarmoutli. England, the 
daughter of George E. and ;\Iary (Burrage) Green, and the family circle of 
the rectory is graced by two fine sons, Vincent H. and Launcelot K., and one 
daughter Felicia Joyce. 

IVAR JAXSON. M. D. 

As his name indicates. Dr. Ivar Janson is of Norwegian birth, and his 
course in life has been a credit to the land of his nativity and to the land of his 
adoption, for he has gained a very enviable reputation in the ranks of the 
medical fraternity in Seattle, where his marked ability and close adherence 
to the high standard of professional principals have won for him the respect, 
confidence and support of the public and of the medical fraternity. 

The Doctor was born in Bergen, Norway. March i. 1869. and is a son 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 377 

of Christopher and Drude (Krog) Janson. The father is a poet and author, 
who came to America in 1882 and resided in Minneapolis, where he engaged 
in hterary work. He became interested in the ministry of the Unitarian 
church and was made a minister of that faith. Becoming desirous of re- 
turning to his native land, he once more went to Norway in 1893 and is now 
residing there. The Doctor is one of a family of six children. His young- 
est brother, Arne K., is a dentist of Seattle. Eiliv came to this city in 1900 
and is now engaged in the practice of medicine in partnership with Ivar. 

Dr. Ivar Janson pursued a preliminarj' education in Norway and was 
thirteen years of age when the family crossed the broad Atlantic to the United 
States. He afterward attended school in Minnesota, pursuing an academic 
and a university course with the intention of later entering the medical pro- 
fession. Accordingly he became a student in the medical department of the 
State University of Minnesota and was graduated in the class of 1892. He 
then engaged in practice in Minnesota, in the city of Minneapolis, for two 
years and for a few months was located in Madison, Wisconsin, but thinking 
ihat the opportunities of the west were better than those of the Mississippi 
valley he made his way to the Pacific coast, locating first in Portland, Oregon, 
where he lived for eight or nine months. Believing that Seattle had before 
it a very promising future, more so than any other city in this section of the 
country, he came here in 1895, and established his office. He started in here 
at a time when business was dull, but he soon gained a foothold and has built 
up a splendid practice. He has not made a specialty of any particular branch 
of medicine, but has given his attention to the general practice of medicine 
and surgery. In order to attain further efficiency in his chosen calling he 
has read and studied extensively. His brother, after spending a year and a 
half in study in Europe, came to Seattle, joining our subject in 1900. In 
die fall of the same year Dr. Ivar Janson went to New York and pursued 
a post-graduate course in the New York Polyclinic, also doing post-graduate 
work in the hospitals there. He also spent a short time in the Johns Hop- 
kins University at Baltimore. He has been on the staff of the Seattle gene- 
ral hospital for a number of years and he belongs to the King County Medical 
Society and the State Medical Association. 

The home life of Dr. Janson has been very pleasant. His wife was 
formerly Miss Mamie E. Helm, a daughter of Louis Helm, who is now liv- 
ing a retired life in Seattle. They were married in Madison, Wisconsin, 
January 8, 1893. They have two daughters: Ellen Margaret and Marie 
Helen. The Doctor is a member of the Unitarian church and is serving as 
one of its trustees. In politics he is a Republican. In 1902 he erected his 
24 



578 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

i.resent residence on Fifth avenue and West Galer streets, and there he and 
his wife extend the hospitality of their home to their many friends. Dr. Jan- 
son g-reatly enjoys yachting and fishing and in those Hnes he finds relaxation 
aiid rest from his arduous professional duties. He is a pleasant, genial and 
polished gentleiman of the high«st social qualities and is vety popular, having 
an extensive circle of friends and acquaintances who esteem him highly for 
his genuine worth as well as professional skill. 

JOHN W. DORMAN. 

Ballard, the lively city which sprarig up on Puget Sound almost in a 
night, like Jonah's gourd, is one of the young wonders of the northwest. 
Almost ten years ago it was only -a straggling vnllage of some four or five 
hundred inhabitants; to-day it numbers its population well up into the thou- 
sands artd has all the appurtenances of a well ordered city. Nor is it a ifiere 
"boom" town, destined to strut its brief hours on the stage like a poor player 
hnd then be heard no more. Ballard rests on a sound basis of established in- 
itustries, has fine advantages as a shipping point, and much capital has been 
in\ested there. At the present time it is the largest manufactm-ing point 
for shingles in the world, and its product is found not only in all the prin- 
cipal lumber markets of the Union but in foreign countries. This industry 
alone would be sufficient to build up a substantial city, but Ballard does 
not rely upon it alone. The place has been especially fortunate in the class 
of mai who have made it the center of their operations. The men who have 
built up Ballard and are keeping it to the front as a manufacturing city 
include some of the most progressive lumber men in the northwest, and 
i-hey are backed by ample capital. Several of these have been described in 
this \-olume, and nmv John W. Dorman is to be added to the list. 

John Dorman, who was born in Nova Scotia in 1818, remov-ed to Canada 
and there married Susanna RiTsser. a nati\ie of Swansea, Wales. He es- 
tablislied the first flour mill at Luken, on the Grank Trunk Railroad, was 
an active member of the Baptist church and a useful citi?en in his com- 
munitv. At present he is residing at Muskegon, Michigan, ~v\here his wiie 
<3ied in the eighty-third vear of her age. John W. Dorman, next to the 
youngest of their six children, was born at London, Canada, in October, 
1851, and from early boyhood has been connected with tlie lumljer business. 
He came to Michigan in 1859 and remained in the eastern part of that state 
iintil 1870, when he removed with his parents to Muskegon. He obtained 
employment at that point with the Stimsfflis, noted kimber dealers, and re- 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 379 

mained with tlieni until their removal tu Chicagu. when he went ti) Minne- 
apolis. He remained in the Minnesota metropolis until the Stimsons estab- 
lished their plant at Ballard, when Mr. Dornian rejoined them as a stock- 
holder in their mill company, and was placed in charge of the work as su- 
perintendent. With the exception of the shingle mill, which was put up by 
the Stears Company of Pennsylvania, all the buildings of the Stimson plant 
have been erected under the supervision of Mr. Dorman. The Stimson's Mill 
Company gives employment to nearly three hundred and fifty men, and in 
1 90 1 the output of their manufactories amounted to one hundred and fifty- 
six million shingles and forty-four million feet of other lumber. The firm 
owns a large amount of the fine timber of their section, and have spent much 
money in improving their facilities for conducting busine-ss on an .extensi\e 
scale. The company manufacture more shingles than any other firm in the 
world, and thus becomes the leader in the industry in which Ballard excels 
all other cities. Mr. Dorman, who has been in the business all his life and 
understands every feature of it from the ground up, has entire charge of the 
gigantic operations of the Stimson Company, and it is needless to say that 
it is a place of great responsibility. 

On the 2 1st of January, 1897, Mr. Dorman was united in marriage 
with Miss Clara I. Gonlet. His politics are Democratic, and his only fra- 
ternal connections are with Occidental Lodge, No. 72, A. F, & A. M. Mr. 
Dorman owns two residences, one on Leary avenue, erected in i'897. which 
he occupies, and the other adjoining it on the north, which he put up in 1902. 

JOHN B. LUCAS. 

The name of this gentleman is closely interwoven with tiie history of 
business activity in Ballard, where he is now extensively and successfully en- 
gaged in conducting a real estate and insurance business as the senior mem- 
ber of the firm of J. B. Lucas & Company. He has lived in the town since 
it was a place of about two hundred population, having located here in 1890. 
Mr. Lucas was born west of the Mississippi river, and the true western spirit 
,of progress .aod enterprise has dominated his career. His birtli occurred in 
Wayland, Clark county, Missouri, in 1864. His father, William B. Lucas, 
was born in Louisville, Kentucky, and when young removed with the family 
to Missouri. In 1849 he joined a company that crossed the plains with ox 
teams to California, being attracted by the discovery of gold on the Pacific 
coast. The trip consumed six months and there were about three hundred 
people in the emigrant train when they started, but only three families re- 



38o REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OE 

mained togetlier until tlie completion of the long trip. Mr. Lucas spent ten 
years in California. On the expiration of that period he returned to Mis- 
souri, where he was engaged in fanning until his removal to Washington in 
J 890. His death occurred here six years later. In his mming operations 
he met with a fair degree of success. Upon his return to Missouri from 
California he was united in marriage to Maria Agnes Brown and to them 
were born five children, of whom three are yet living, two brothers being' 
residents on the coast. 

The educational privileges which John B. Lucas enjoyed comprised a 
common and high school course. He was reared to farm life until he was 
twenty-five years of age and then went to the town, where he was employed 
in different branches of mechanical work until his removal to the northwest 
in 1890. Desiring to locate in a new country with its broad opportunities 
and almost limitless possibilities he came to this state and after following 
carpentering in Seattle for six months decided that Ballard offered good op- 
portunities to its citizens because it promised to become a thriving and enter- 
prising place. Accordingly he purchased property here and became identi- 
fied with the building interests of the town. He erected the second house 
east of Railroad avenue and to some extent engaged in contracting, follow- 
ing that pursuit for about three years. Subsequently he conducted a furni- 
ture store until 1896, when he began his real estate operations, which have 
occupied his attention continuously since. In 1900 he also extended the field 
of his labors until they embraced an insurance agency, and he now represents 
a number of the leading companies of the country, including the Phoenix of 
Brooklyn, the Connecticut of Hartford, the Springfield Fire & Marine In- 
surance Company of Massachusetts, the German-American Insurance Com- 
pany of New York, and the Pennsylvania Underwriters. The firm of J. B. 
Lucas & Company is composed of our subject, E. B. Cox and T. A. A. Sieg- 
friedt. While they are largely engaged in handling city property they also 
control some farm lands as well. Their oftice is located in the fine new build- 
nig which was erected by Mr. Lucas and J. W. Peter in the spring of 1902. 
This building is two stories in height and is twenty-five by ninety-four feet. 
Mr. Lucas has erected a number of residences in the city, including his pre- 
sent home at 12 State street, which was built in 1900 and is one of the attrac- 
tive dwellings of the towai. 

As a companion and helpmeet for life's journey Mr. Lucas chose Mrs. 
Lucy L. Lansing, nee Price, the wedding being celebrated May, 9, 1899. 
They have one daughter, Mildred, and by her former marriage Mrs. Lucas 
had two sons. Earl and Verne. The Democratic party receives Mr. Lucas's 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 381 

political endorsement and he has been actively interested in promoting its 
growth and success. In 1896 he was elected a member of the city council 
and was one of those who favored the sinking of the artesian well from 
which the water supply of the city is obtained. He is now serving his third 
term as justice of the peace and in his decisions manifests strict fairness and 
impartiality. At the last election the city gave a Republican majority, but 
he was elected by fifty-six votes, while the other Democrats on the ticket were 
defeated. This is an indication of his personal popularity and of the con- 
fidence reposed in him by his fellow townsmen. His social relations connect 
him with the Improved Order of Foresters, the Knights of the Maccabees, 
the Knights of the Golden Eagle and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. 
He possesses the spirit of busmess enterprise which has developed and is de- 
veloping the marvelous resources and wealth of the western states, and Bal- 
lard claims him as one whose efforts in its behalf have been of great benefit 
to the town. 

BRYON D. SMALLEY. 

The ancestral history of Bryon D. Smalley traces back to colonial days. 
Prior to 1700 two brothers, Benjamin and David Smalley, came to America, 
the former settling in New England, while the latter established his home in 
V'irginia, and it is to David Smalley that the subject of this review traces his 
ancestry. His great-grandfather removed from the Old Dominion to New 
Jersey and in the latter state Lewis Smalley, the grandfather of our subject, 
was bom. Hiram H. Smalley, the father, was a native of the Empire state, 
born in Friendship, Allegany county, in the house where Bryon D. Smalley 
first opened his eyes to the light of day, July 2, 1849. The father became a 
r'i.eniber of the medical profession and engaged in practice in New York until 
about 1852, when he removed to Houston, Texas. Later he served as presi- 
dent of the medical board of New Orleans for a number of years and was 
there living when the Civil war broke out. He was a stanch Abolitionist 
and because of his views on the slavery question he was advised to leave the 
south. Together with twenty-five or thirty other Union men he was smug- 
gled to Galveston, and on a very dark night arrangements were made to get 
them aboard a man of war. Two boats were filled, but when they were some 
distance out from shore lights were turned upon them from land, cannons 
were fired and all were killed. Dr. Smalley was married in New^ York to 
Miss Lenora A. Cunningham, whose father came to America from Ireland. 

Bryon D. Smalley attended private schools in Texas, but at the time 



382 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

when excitement over the slavery and secession questions was running high 
in tlie south lie and his mother were sent back to New York and lie then 
attended Friendship Academy. In 1866 he was appointed attorney and 
general agent of the Clay Fire & Marine Insurance Company of Newport, 
Kentucky, although but seventeen years of age at the time. He studied 
law with his uncle in Newport, and later entered the Cincinnati Law School, 
in which he was graduated in 1873. He then opened a law office in Newport, 
making a specialty of insurance law, and as a representative of that depart- 
ment of jurisprudence he tried cases in nearly every state in the Union. In 
1875 ^^ removed to Detroit, Michigan, as general agent of the Cooper Fire 
& Marine Insurance Company of Dayton, having jurisdiction over Michigan, 
Illinois and Wisconsin, and in 1880 he weiTt to Chicago. For several years 
he was sujierintendent of agencies at Chicago of the Mutual Fire Insurance 
Company of that city, but his health broke down and he was advised to go 
to the Pacific coast. 

Acting on this advice Mr. Smalley arrived in Seattle in November, 1889. 
He established himself here a.s an independent adjuster of insurance losses 
and has done business over all parts of this state, Montana and Idaho, as well 
as British Columbia, and probably has a more thorough knowledge of the 
state than any other man residing within its borders. In Alarch, 1900, he 
established a new industry here. . Entering into partnership with C. M. Coe 
he organized the Puget Sound Paper Box Company, of which he has since 
been the president. This is the only industry of the kind on the Pacific coast 
outside of San Francisco. They manufacture all kinds of work in their 
line, including regular and folding boxes, and use the latest machinery for 
this work. They began business with one man and two girls in the factory, 
but have gradually increased the numljer of their employes to meet the grow- 
ing demands of their trade and now employ five men arKl twenty girls and 
occupy the two floors and basement of a building one himdred by orre hun- 
dred and twenty feet. Their trade extends through Washington and Mon- 
tana and also into British Columbia. They do all kinds of embossing and 
printing in their own plant and turn out the finest can<ly boxes known to 
the trade. The new industry is fast becoming a prominent one, ami though 
its existence hardly covers two years the volume of business has increased 
manifold. 

On the 6th of May, 1875, Mr. Smalley was marrietl in Detroit, Michi- 
gan, to Miss Lottie Fisher, a daughter of A. C. Fisher, one of the pioneers 
of that city. They had one daughter, Charlotte, now the wife of Martin 
Chamberlain, of Detroit. On the 4th of July. 1882. Mr. Smalley was joined 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 383. 

in wedlock to Mary E. Bell, of Howell, Michigan, and they have four sons, 
Royal D., Bryon, Jr., Robert B. and George H. In politics Mr. Smalley is 
independent with Republican tendencies and is a strong advocate of temper- 
ance principles. He belongs to the National Union and the Manufacturers' 
Exchange and is a member of the Presbyterian church, in which he has 
served in the position of deacon, while for many years lie has been president 
of the congregation. His influence has ever been exerted in behalf of in- 
tellectual and moral progress as well as for the material improvements of 
the city, and in his life he has manifested a strong desire for the betterment 
of mankind. 

THOMAS C. REED. 

In the history of honorable achievement is the record which elicits the 
earnest attention and commendation of the American citizen. Inheritance or 
environment count for little in the estimate of character in this country, and 
it is the man and his accomplishments upon which public opinion passes its 
comment. Thomas C. Reed stands as a worthy representative of a high 
type of American manhood, for from a humble financial beginning he has 
worked his way steadily upwrard until he now stands as one of the leaders 
in the great ship-building industry of the northwest. 

A resident of Ballard, he has made his home here since 1890 and has 
been engaged in the development of his present business since that time. 
He was born in southern Wales, February ig, 1862. His father was a 
farmer there, but Thomas was apprenticed to the ship-building trade when 
fourteai years of age and served for a term of indenture of five years. On 
th« emigration of the family to the new world they settled at Toronto, Can- 
ada, and the father continued his farming operations. Thomas C. Reed re- 
mained at home until 1887, when h€ decided to seek his fortune in the west 
and located at Port Madison, Washington, because of the ship yards there. 
He was employed there for a year and a half and then built a couple of 
boats at Pasco, after which he went to Portland, Oregon, where he made his 
hon>e until his removal to Ballard in 1890. 

Mr. Reed was engaged in building a ship there and later went to Gray's 
Harbor, wiiere he built the City of Aberdeen, after which he returned to 
Ballard and was engaged in repair work here until 1893. In that year he 
returned to Gray's Harbor and built tlie steamer Josie Burrows. He next 
came back to Ballard and did the repair w^ork for the Stimson Mill Com- 
pany for three or four years, following which he went to Shelton and built 



384 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

the vessel City of Slielton, in 1896. Repair work again claimed his at- 
tention in Ballard until 1898, when he returned to Gray's Harbor and built 
the steamer T. C. Reed, now owned at Seattle. When that task was com- 
pleted Mr. Reed once more came to Ballard and established his ship yard, 
in which he has built the largest schooners that have ever been constructed 
on the coast. In 1897 he built seven boats for the Columbia Navigation Com- 
pany for work in the Yukon. The present yanls were established in 1900 
;md are equipped so completely that Mr. Reed can build a boat of any size 
desired. He was the builder of the four masted schooner Stimson, tiie four 
masted schooner Nottingham, the Tillicum and a three masted schooner now 
on the stocks. Two pf the schooners are one hundred and ninety-six feet 
in the keel, with a forty-two-foot beam, with a tonnage of one thousand and 
sixty-two, and have a carrying capacity of a million and a half feet of lum- 
ber, for which they are especially designed, being built particularly strong 
for this purpose. In his yards Mr. Reed furnishes employment to eighty 
men, securing the best skilled labor in this line, and he has ways for the 
construction of three vessels at one time. His plant is splendidly located, 
not only because of its proximity to the sea, but also because of the near- 
ness of the great forest, which enables him to secure timber of any size de- 
sired. In the boats now building he has used some very large and long tim- 
bers, forty-four by fourteen inches, the keel eighteen by thirty inches and 
one hundred and ten feet in length. 

While in Portland Mr. Reed was united in marriage to Miss Lizzie I. 
Twigg, a daughter of William Twigg, a merchant of that city, and to them 
have been born two children, Ethel and Percy. In 1S94 Mr. Reed erected 
his fine home on C street. He is a member of the Presbyterian church and 
in politics is an earnest and active Republican. In November, 1901, he 
vvas nominated and elected mayor of the city and is now serving in that 
office in a most commendable manner, discharging his duties so that his labors 
have resulted to the benefit of the city along many lines of usefulness and 
improveinent. Socially he is connected w-ith the Woodmen of the World 
and with Occidental Lodge, No. 72, F. & A. M., Seattle Chapter, No. 3, 
R. A. M., Seattle Commandery, No. 2, K. T., and with Washington Lodge 
of Perfection of the Scottish Rite and the Order of the Eastern Star. His 
is a well rounded character, not so abnormally developed in any direction as 
to become a genius but due attention has been given to the various labors 
and interests of life that result in a well balanced mind; he looks at life 
from a reasonable standpoint and while caring for his individual interests 
is also mindful of his duties and obligations to his fellow men. 




tAfyUy^^kM^ 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 385 

AMBROSE B. WYCKOFF. 

Lieutenant Ambrose Barkley W'yckoff, who will long be remembered 
by the citizens of Seattle and King county for his services in connection with 
the starting of the Puget Sound na\-y yard and other public enterprises in 
this vicinity, was born in Delhi, Illinois, on the 29th of April, 1848. He is 
the ninth in descent from the Holland progenitor, Cornelius P. Wyckoff, 
who located on Long Island in 1636, and with his wife now lies buried under 
the pulpit of the Dutch Reformed church in a suburb of Brooklyn. The 
parents of our subject, Ambrose Spencer and Sarah (Gelder) Wyckoff, were 
natives, respectively, of Scoharie county. New York, and of Yorkshire, 
England. The father was reared in the city of New York, where he was 
engaged in a wholesale mercantile business until about 1830. In that year 
he moved westward and became a pioneer of Jersey county, Illinois, where 
he engaged in agricultural pursuits and also took a prominent part in the 
early history of that county. His death occurred in the Prairie state in 
1872, and his widow survived until 1899. when she, too, passed into eternal 
rest. In their family were seven children, five of whom still survive. 

On the 29th of September, 1864, when sixteen years of age, Lieutenant 
Wyckoff entered the naval academy at Annapolis, Maryland, from which he 
was graduated June 10, ;868, ranking twelfth in a class of eighty-seven 
members. On the 19th of the following April he was promoted to the posi- 
tion of ensign, and on the 12th of July, 1870, was made a master, while two 
ye;irs later, October 25, 1^72, he rose to the position of lieutenant. His first 
service was on board the Portsmouth, while later he sailed to the island of 
Haj'ti on the Nantasket, thus continuing until 1S70, when his health became 
so impaired' that he was obliged to remain at home on a sick leave for two 
years. FYom 1872 until -'874 he served on the Wyoming and Wachuset in 
the West Indies and in surveying the coast of Mexico, while from 1875 until 
1876 he was on the training ship Portsmouth. In May, 1877, he was or- 
dered to the United States coast survey schooner Yukon, at Seattle, Wash- 
ington, and while making a hydrographical survey of Puget Sound he became 
convinced that the great navy yard of the Pacific coast should be on the 
shores of these waters. .'Accordingly he began a correspondence with the 
authorities at Washington and succeeded in impressing Captain E. P. Lull, 
hydrographic inspector of the coast survey. Commodore Whiting, chief of 
the bureau of navigation, and the Hon. R. M. Thompson, secretary of the 
navy. He urged that two hundred thousand acres of the most accessible 
timber lands should be selected as a naval reservation, and that amount of 



386 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

selected timber would now be worth several millions of dollars and the finest 
equipped navy yard in tlie country could be developed without cost to the gov- 
ernment. A bill was actually introduced in 1880 for a commission to select land 
on Puget Sound for naval puqjoses and was favorably considered by 
the house naval committee, but Mr. W'yckolt was then ordered to China and 
the prevalent ignorance in congress and among the naval authorities regard- 
ing the resources and natural advantages of Puget Sound was so great that 
no measure was passed. However, in 1880, Lieutenant Wyckoff went to 
Washington at his own expense and interviewed the naval authorities, but 
the department insisted on his going to sea, and it is believed that had he 
remained in Washington the naval station would ha\'e been started ten years 
sooner than it was. During the subsequent seven years he kept up his ap- 
peals, both by correspondence and personal solicitation, and was so persistent 
that he Ijecame known in the service as the "Puget Sounder." 

Lieutenant Wyckoff was a member of the commission in 1890 to select 
a site for a dry dock on the Pacific coast north of California, and in the fol- 
lowing year he was ordered by Secretary Tracy to select a tract of land not 
exceeding two hundred acres in extent suitable for the purposes of a dry dock. 
LTnder that order he selected and purchased the present navy yard and located 
and started the construction of the dry dock. On the i6th of Septanljer, 
1S91, his daughter, Selah, hoisted the flag for the first time, and Lieutenant 
Wyckoff read his orders to take command of the Puget Sound Naval Sta- 
tion, the name of which he had suggested to the navy department. On De- 
cember 19, 1892, his daughter Stella dug the first shovel full of earth for the 
dry dock, which has always been such a complete success, ami the navy yard 
is generally acknowledged to have more natural advantages than any other 
in the United States. 

From 1881 to 1884 Lieutenant Wyckoff served on the Swatara, Ashue- 
lot, Richmond and Monocaey in China, Japan and Corea, and when the 
Ashuelot was sunk off the coast of China, in February, 1883, he left his own 
boat and took the Chinese sick, servants and other idlers out of three lx)ats 
into a small unmanageabfe steam cutter, which was adrift without a boiler 
in the thick fog and darkness, and sent the three empty boats back to the 
sinking ship for the captain, officers and men remaining on board. Thus 
thirty-three men were with difficulty saved in the steam cutter. During 
the following day and night he pulled with a volunteer crew through the fog" 
about forty miles to the mainland and procured assistance for the survivors 
on the island. During the years 1884-85-86 Lieutenant Wyckoff was in 
charge of the hydrographic office at Philadelphia, and while in that city he 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 3»7 

was made a member of the American Philosophical Society and an honorary 
member of the Franklin Institute, being thus honored on account of his ser- 
vices rendered as judge of the electrical exhibition and in the competition 
tests of dynam.os and electrical machinery. In 1884 he was the first naval 
officer to propose and urge the use of oil in storms at sea, and although this 
was much ridiculed at the time its use has since become almost universal and 
has saved many vessels and innumerable lives. In 1887-88 he served as 
flag secretary to Rear Admiral Braine, of the South Atlantic Station, and in 
1889 was made assistant to the chief of the bureau of yards and docks in 
the navy department, having special charge of the installation of electric 
plants in the navy yards. Under the law of March 2, 1891, he was ordered 
by the secretary of the navy to proceed to Puget Sound and select and pur- 
chase the lands for the Puget Sound naval station and locate the dry dock, 
and having satisfactorily performed this responsible dirty he was ordered, on 
the 15th of September, 1891, as the first commandant of the new station. 
In 1891, however, soon after going on board the Yukon, Lieutenant Wyckoff 
had been stricken with rheumatism. The honor and responsibility of such 
an assigTiment to a junior officer was unprecedented in the navy and his pro-' 
fessional pride made him remain tmtil the duty was fully accomplished, not- 
withstanding his painful illness. As soon, however, as the dry dock was 
begun he asked for detachment and was relieved in January, 1893, after which 
he went at once to the army and navy hospital at Hot Springs, Arkansas. 
His promotion became due June 26, 1893, and he was ordered to Washington. 
When he appeared before the examining board it was thought that he would 
ne^e^ again be fit physically for duty at sea, and he was accordingly placed 
on the retired list July 3, 1893. So while he eventually saw his cherished 
project or a naval station on Puget Sound started it proved the means of 
his own undoing and prevented his reaching the high rank which is every 
naval officer's ambition. 

After his retirement, in 1893, Lieutenant Wyckoff for three years was 
interested in the development of the Yakima valley and was a contributor to 
numerous eastern magazines in favor of establishing a system of irrigation, 
which has proved such a valuable enterprise for that section of the state. 

In the family of Lieutenant Wyckoff are three children : Mary, the 
wife of George E. Wright, a prominent attorney of Seattle; Selah, the wife 
of MjTon Westover, an attorne}' of St. Louis; and Carrie Wyckoff, the 
adopted daughter of Governor E. J. Ormsbee. of Brandon, Vermont. Mr. 
WyckofF's reminiscences of his services on Puget Sourwl are contained in 
"The Washington Histnrinn nf January, 1901." He has written numerous 



388 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

articles for eastern magazines and papers regarding the state of Washing- 
ton and has been an enthusiastic "boomer" of Puget Sound in many parts 
of the world. Perhaps no other citizen has contributed more largely to the 
development and prosperity of the state. But his devotion and enthusiasm 
have cost him dearly, as his residence for nearly two years on an old rotten 
schooner while starting the navy yard caused the serious disease which led 
to his retirement and loss of the high rank uhich he would have attained in 
the naval service. Since his retirement in 1893 ^''^ '^^^ been a resident of 
Seattle. He is a thirty-second degree Mason, a member of the American 
Philosophical Society and an honorary member of the Franklin Institute and 
Maritime Exchange of Philadelphia and the Chamber of Commerce of Se- 
attle. In all local affairs the Lieutenant is public-spirited and an enthusiastic 
promoter of all enterprises for the advancement of Seattle and the Sound 
country and is an ardent Republican in politics. 

PATRICK D. HUGHES. 

A practitioner at th* bar of Seattle, Patrick D. Hughes has gained prom- 
inence as a member of the legal profession, and his advancement reflects 
credit upon him, for without outside aid or influence he began life here in 
the west and without previous preparation for a business career; he had 
been reared in the lap of luxury and had never known the necessity of earn- 
ing a dollar until he was twenty-three years of age, when owing to finan- 
cial reverses he was thrown upon his own resources, and that he has worked 
his way upward to an enviable position is due to no assistance, but to a 
strong determination to overcome all obstacles and win success, retrieving his 
lost position in financial circles. 

Born in Toronto, Canada. August 5, 1863, ]\Ir. Hughes is a son of 
Patrick Hughes, who was a prominent wholesale merchant there and a man 
of marked influence and force of character, known throughout the entire 
dominion. His extensive interests in important business concerns were no 
hindrance to his activity in affairs for the public good, and he took a prom- 
inent part in all matters intended for the betterment of the community and 
country in which he lived. He was a director in the Imperial Bank of Can- 
ada, and was a leader for many years in financial circles of that country. He 
married in Boston, Massachusetts, Miss Mary E. Donoghue, a daughter of 
Patrick Donoghue, of the Boston Pilot, and to them were born six children. 

Patrick D. Hughes, the only representative of this family in the west, 
pursued his education in private schools of his native country and attended 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 389 

the Upper Canada College, after which he was connected with his father's 
business until 1887. Then thrown upon his own resources, owing to the 
financial reverses which encumbered his father's property, he determined to 
begin life anew in the far west, and though he had not been trained to meet 
hardships and adversity, the strength of a manly character was now mani- 
fest, in the way in which he faced new conditions and set to work to gain an 
honest, if humble, living. 

He arrived in the west in 1888 and took up his residence in Seattle. He 
did not know where or how to find work, but was willing to perform any 
labor that would give him a start, and was first employed on a pile-driver 
for Dunham & Collins. Soon afterward he obtained a position in the post- 
office under J. M. Lyon, and later secured a situation in a grocery store. He 
began there in a very humble position, but it was not long before he gave 
proof of his ability for higher service, and he was promoted to bookkeeper 
and later was given charge of the business. When he severed his connec- 
tion with that house he became connected with real estate dealing as a rep- 
resentative of the firm of Crawford & Conover. But in the meantime he took 
up the study of law, and when Thomas Gordon became clerk of the courts he 
appointed Mr. Hughes to the position of deputy, and the latter served in that 
capacity through the entire term of four years, at the same time keeping up 
the study of law, which, together with the work in the courts, gave him an 
excellent understanding of jurisprudence and the methods of applying legal 
principles to the points in litigation. He passed an examination and was 
admitted to the bar in 1897 and since that time has been engaged in general 
practice in Seattle. He has won considerable prominence as a criminal law- 
yer, but recently has given up most of his practice in that department. His 
success has been gratifying, both from a professional and financial stand- 
point, and already he has gained a clientage that indicates that he is classed 
among the able lawyers of the Seattle bar. 

In 1890 Mr. Hughes returned to his former home and married Gertrude, 
a daughter of Charles Crookall, of the Berlin (Ontario) branch of the Mer- 
chants Bank of Canada, and they have three children, Ursula, Harold and 
Monica. Mr. Hughes is an active member of the Republican party and has 
attended every convention here during the past ten years. He was appointed 
a member of the civil service board in 1899, from which he resigned in 1902, 
owing to the press of his private business affairs. Upon the breaking out of 
the Rice rebellion in Canada, Mr. Hughes entered the army and for gallant 
conduct was promoted to the rank of captain. He had command of a half 
company at Cut Knife in 1885 and was awarded the queen's medal and clasp 



390 REPRESENTATIVE CTHZENS OF 

ill recognition of liis meritorious service in the campaign. Fraternally he is 
connected with the Elks. He was formerly an active member of the Athletic 
Club, was a member of its board of trustees for several }-ears and belonged 
to the four-oared crew, rowing with some of Yale's former oarsmen. He 
is still interested in athletic matters, although not so actively as he was former- 
ly because of lack of time. Mr. Hughes is a man of strong force of clurac- 
ter and sterling worth, as is indicated by the way in which he bravely met 
the situation when financial reverses overtook him. Adversity has been 
called the character test, and through the ordeal Mr. Hughes came out tri- 
lamphantly, his course winning him the respect and honor of all who have 
regard for upright manliood, for unfaltering diligence and for upright prin- 
ciples. 

ALBERT W. HIGHT. 

In all communities especial honor seems to be accorded him or her who 
did "first" tilings. The first arrival, of course, becomes perforce a historical 
celebrity, the first builder of a house gets honorable mention in all the local 
history, and the first baby born, especially if it were a girl, is made the fruit- 
ful theme of song and story. Naturally, therefore, the pioneer of a place 
who not only did see one but many "first" things becomes a notable and is 
entitled to a front seat at all old settlers' meetings. This subject is thus 
mentioned for the purpose of entering a claim to the last mentioned honor 
in the name of Albert W. Hight, the genial superintendent of tlie Wash- 
ington Pulley Company at Ballard. A simple enumeration will show that 
Mr. Hight has so many "firsts" to his credit that no strain will be put upon 
words to call him No. i in most of the early events of the bustling burg 
=b'y the bay. He was one of the first arrivals in the town, served in the first 
two councils, received the first car-load of freight shipped to the town, built 
the first residence in the place, and one of his children was the first child 
born at Ballard. Under the impression that an interest will be felt in a 
busy life of this kind something will now be told of Mr. Hight's origin, what 
lie did before coming, and more specific details given of the part he has taken 
in building up Ballard. 

The Hights were settled in Pennsylvania at what the pioneer historians 
call a "very early day," and in that state, October 24, 1820, was born John 
R. Hight, father of the Ballard medianic whose biography is being traced. 
About the time he reached manhood a great tide of emigration was setting 
in from the east and south toward the rich and rising state of Ohio, and 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 39' 

young Hight, having all to gain and nothing to lose, abandoned his old home 
and joined the surging throng. Destiny directed him toward the shores 
of Lake Erie, and eventually he found a location in Lucas county, not far 
fTom the present thriving city of Toledo. John R. Hight was a carpentef 
by trade and possessed considerable mechanical tailent, which doubtless has 
ibeen transmitted to his more successful son. He seems also to have been 
of some consequaice in his community as a leader in local politics on the 
Republican side, and he served for sixteen years as justice of the peace in 
his township. After coming to Ohio he married Asenoth Barkestoam, 
who died at a comparati\'ely earl}' age after giving birth to two children. 

Albert W. Hight, the younger of these, was born in Lucas count}-, near 
Toledo, October 24, 1848, and was one of the boys destined, in the language 
of the farm, to have "a hard row to hoe." In fact it was a case of hard 
struggling almost from the cradle, and he has made his own living ever since 
'be was eight years of age. His father was a soldier in the Sixty-eighth 
"Ohio Regiment until incapacitated from service by a woond, and Albert W., 
tliough less than fifteen years of age, joined the same command about the 
middle of January, 1863, in time to see some very Hvely service in the great 
campaigns of the southwest. He was one of the mighty multitude that 
cut loose from their base of supplies at Atlanta and started overland under 
"Old Tecumseh" on that memorable march to the sea, which will ever shine 
in histor\' as one of the supremest achievements of military genius. Being 
ftonorably discharged at Columbus, Ohio, after the close of hostilities, young 
iliight saw the urgent necessity of doing something for a living and with all 
the wide world before him where to choose, he chose, like many another for- 
tnne-hunter, to go west. He spent four years in Illinois as an apprentice 
to the carpenter's trade, later was in Iowa for awhile, and about this time, 
ilia\-ing decided to take Horace Greeley's advice and .go further west, he re- 
Iturned to Chicago to make necessary preparations for the trip. Takhig 
passage on one of the overland lines to the Pacific coast, he arrived in a few 
days at San Francisco, thence decided to push on to the newer sections in the 
northwest. His trip up the coast, always a refreshing experience for a land- 
lubber, was taken on the old Tidal Wave to Port Madison, and from there 
he crossed over to Seattle on a tug. When Mr. Hight arrived on the scene 
there was little to indicate the appearance of a thriving city in that localitv. 
tH<ere and there might be seen some scattered buildings and a few humble 
shades occupied by fishermen or lumber laborers. Most of the towni site, 
*he»vei\5er, ■was covered with timber, and the primeval forest stretched in 
xjnbroken magesty in all directions away from the Sound. Tlie manufacture 



392 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

of lumber being the principal industry uf the place at that time, Air. Ilight 
naturally drifted into the same channel and became interested in sawmills. 
The mill he erected at Ballard was the nucleus around which subsequently 
grew the present thriving city. When Mr. Hight came no town was in sight 
or anything to indicate that there would ever be one on that particular spot. 
A few brave spirits, however, saw the possibilities and were willing to risk 
their money on the prospects of eventually building up a thriving community 
at this point. After the pioneer blazes the way it is comparatively easy for 
others to follow, and in the course of time lots were for sale, incipient in- 
dustries got under way, a church, schoolhouse and newspaper gave unmistak- 
able indications that a town was growing up in the rapid style typical of 
America. In 1893 Mr. Hight abandoned the manufacture of shingles and 
other kinds of lumber to devote himself to making pulleys. He met with 
success, and by degrees built up a trade which extended as far away as San 
Francisco and Salt Lake City. As a kind of side line he manufactured a good 
many floats for fishermen's nets, but his chief energies were put forth in pro- 
ducing the split-wood pulley, which has the reputation of being the best of its 
kind on the market. April i, 1902, the Washington Pulley Company was 
organized to conduct the business more energetically, and as they own the 
patents covering their output they enjoy a practical monoply in this particular 
product. 

Mr. Hight married Clare Blackstone, of Portland, and has five children: 
iMartha. wife of Charles J. Wicker; Laura, a teacher in the public schools; 
John R. ; Albert; and William Henry. His religious belief is in line with 
the Unitarians and his politics those of the Bryan Democracy, though he 
does not seem to have wasted any time seeking office from any party. Mr. 
Hight may be said to have rocked the cradle at the birth of Ballard, and when 
it took on corporate existence he acted as one of the city fathers by serving in 
the council two terms, and looked carefully after the embryo metropolis. He 
was one of the prime movers in having the twevle-inch pipe line laid, through 
which salt water may be pumped in large quantities when needed for fire pro- 
tection. 

HARRY A. BIGELOW. 

The state of Washington, with its pulsing industrial activities and rapid 
development, has attracted within its confines men of marked ability and high 
character in the various lines of business, and in this way progress has been 
conserved and social stability fostered. He whose name initiates this review 



.^ 



^■^ 





SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 393 

has gained recognition as one of the able and succesful business men of Seat- 
tle, and by his labors, his capability and his sterling characteristics has justi- 
fied the respect and confidence in which he is held by the public in general as 
well as by his friends and associates. 

j\Ir. Bigelow is the youngest of ten children born to Townsend and 
Diana H. Bigelow, November i, 1848, in Hillsdale county, ^Michigan. His 
earlv life was spent in the rural district where school advantages were few, 
and possessing a desire to acquire knowledge and see more of the world, at 
the early age of sixteen he bade farewell to the home of his youth and went 
to Illinois. This was the year 1864, when the nation was trembling in the 
balance and the last call for troops so filled his enthusiastic heart that he 
offered his services to the government in subduing the rebellion, enlisting in 
Company M, Ninth Illinois Cavalry. His service was with the Army of the 
Tennessee under the command of General Thomas until he was discharged 
at Montgomery, Alabama. Returning to Illinois he resumed liis studies; 
l)ut the knowledge he had gained by his experience in the south imbued with- 
in him a spirit of restlessness and a determination to realize the posibilities of 
the far west. On October, 1869, in company with his sister, Mrs. Julius 
Ilorton and family, he came by way of the Union Pacific Railroad to San 
Francisco thence north by sailing vessel to Seattle. In the spring of 1870 
he engaged in merchandising with one of Seattle's leading firms and con- 
tinued with that firm for several years. 

In September, 1873, he was united in marriage to Emma K. Hall, only 
daughter of W. B. and S. E. Hall and three children were born to them, 
Lillian Floy, Clair Vivian and D. Earl Bigelow. 

He was connected with mercantile interests from 1870 until 1S90, when 
he was appointed deputy United States marshal under President Harrison 
and was chief deputy of the state for three years. He performed his duties 
as deputy in an efficient and forcible manner. Retiring from the marshal's 
office he engaged in the real estate and brokerage business, with ^^d^ich he was 
associated until July, 1897, when he sailed for Dawson, Alaska, by way of 
St. Michaels, but was destined not to reach the great gold metropolis on ac- 
count of low water in the Yukon river, and was forced to try his fortune in 
Uampart City on Manook Creek in American territory. After a year's pros- 
pecting and securing an interest in twenty-one claims, he resolved to return 
to Seattle, and in company with his son and three others embarked in a row 
boat and by traveling day and night made the one thousand miles in twelve 
days to St. Michaels, thence by steamer to Seattle. In November, 1898, 



394 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

he again engaged in the real estate business and carried on operations along 
that line until March 1901, when he became one of the incorporators of the 
(hiecn Oil Company with \aluable landed interests in Kern county, Cali- 
fornia. 

In his political views he is a strong Republican, ha\ing constantly 
supported that party up to the present time. He is truly American and 
reckons nothing that concerns Americans to be unworthy of his notice. 
Tlirown in early life upon his own resources he has evei* followed the 
dictates 6f his mind and through years of rugged toil has earned the posi- 
tion among men he now holds. 

For years he has taken an active interest in the Grand Army of the 
Republic and is one of the charter members of the first post formed in the 
state, known as Stevens Post No. i, serving three terms as Commander of 
his post and in June, 1901, he was elected department commander of the 
department of Washington and Alaska. 

He has attended nearly all of the national encampments of the Grand 
Army of the Republic, serving on many of its very important committees, and 
figures prominently in the relations between the Grand Army of the Repub- 
lic and the Sons of Veterans. Since 1872 he has been a member of the Ma- 
sonic Order and now belongs to St. John's Lodge No. 9. F. and A. M., Seat- 
tle Chapter No. 3, R. A. M., Seattle Council No. 6, R. and S. M., Seattle Com- 
mandery No. 2, K. T., Lawson Consistory No. i, Afifi Temple of the Mystic 
Shrine; also a member in good standing of the Knights of Pythias and Odd 
I'ellows. In 1884 he took part in the organization of the grand lodge of the 
Knights of Pythias, and was elected sitting past grand chancellor. In 1885 
he was chosen supreme representative of the state of Washington to the Su- 
preme Lodge and has attended every session of that body ha\ ing been elected 
to responsible offices. He organized the military branch of that order in this 
state and was elected brigadier-general, which position he held for eight 
years. 

Few men have a more intimate knowledge of Seattle's growth and up- 
building than Harry A. Bigelow, whose identification with the city dates from 
the year 1869 and throughout the intervening years he has labored earnest- 
ly, not only for his own financial advancement, but for the city's welfare and 
jjrogress, and his efforts have been an important factor in promoting the gene- 
ral good. He has attained an enviable position in business as well as fratern- 
ally, and in social circles he commands the high regard of all with whom he 
is brought in contact, and enjoys the warm esteem of hosts of friends. 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 395 

CHARLES GESKE. 

From the age of sexxnteen years Charles Geske lias been dependent upon 
liis own labors for all that he has acquired and enjoyed in life, and as the 
architect of his own fortunes he has builded wisely and well. To-day he is a 
member of the Miller & Geske Construction Company, incorporated, of Seat- 
de, and since 1885 has been connected with tlie industrial life of this city. 
Air. Geske was born in Taylors Falls, Minnesota, in 1856. His father, Fred- 
erick Geske, was a native of Germany, and after obtaining his education in 
that country he learned the carpenter's trade. Li 185*4 he crossed the "briny 
deep" to the new world, locating in Minnesota, whence he afterward removed 
10 Iowa, and there followed his trade. In politics he was a Democrat. In 
his native country he married Gretchen Kostman, who was born in Berlin, 
and they became the parents of eight children, but our subject is the only one 
living in Seattle. 

In the schools of McGregor, Iowa, whither the family had removed 
when Charles Geske was only five years of age, he pursued his education, and 
at the age of seventeen he started out to make his own way in the world, fol- 
lowing harvesting. In the following winter he went to Minnesota, working in 
the forests there and in the succeeding summer he was employed in a whole- 
sale house. When about twenty years of age he began learning the carpen- 
ter's trade, which he has followed in one or more of its branches continuously 
since, most all of his work having been done for corporations. He was one 
of the first carpenters who crossed the Missouri river on the ice at Bismark, 
North Dakota ; working for the Northern Pacific Railroad when they began 
iniilding their lines west from Mandan. He was with the road until after 
Henry Villard, President U. S. Grant and Jay Gould drove the last spike, an 
act which he witnessed. Mr. Geske afterward came through to Oregon and 
then went down the coast to California, but soon returned to Portland and 
entered the service of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company. Subse- 
quently he went to British Columbia and worked for about a year on the Es- 
quimault & Nanaimo Railroad. Later he returned to the Northern Pacific 
Company and was employed on the division work from Tacoma until 1885, 
when he came to Seattle. Here for four years he occupied the position of 
foreman for the Great Northern Railroad Company, working out from this 
point. He afterward entered into partnership with Mr. Miller, a relation- 
ship which has since been maintained. They began the contracting business, 
which has steadily grown in volume and importance until it has reached 
mammoth proportions. They have two scow pile-drivers and three land 



396 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

dvivers with hammers weighing from twenty-eight to forty-five hundred 
pounds. Their work has mostly been in this city and they have also done 
some work at Bremerton and other places on the Sound. During the busy 
season they furnish employment to one hvmdred men, most of them skilled 
workmen commanding high prices, none receiving less than three dollars per 
day and some as high as five dollars per day. 

Mr. Geske has invested to some extent in property here, but sold all 
with the exception of some real estate in West Seattle and a forty acre ranch 
between this city and Issaquah. He also erected his own residence here in 
the fall of 1889, after the great fire. His home is presided over by a most 
estimable lady, whom he married in 1897, and who bore the maiden name of 
Catherine Pluitt. She is a native of La Crosse, Wisconsin, and they have 
one son, Frank. Mr. Geske has usually voted the Democratic ticket at state 
and national elections, but at local elections casts his ballot independently of 
party ties. He is an enterprising man, who, in his life displays many of the 
sterling characteristics of his German ancestry and though he started out up- 
on his business career with no capital, he realized that success could he earned 
through persistent effort and honorable dealing, and it has been along these 
lines th.at he has gained his standing in industrial circles. 

LIVINGSTON B. STEDMAN. 

From the classic walls of Harvard — the oldest university of America — 
have come some of the most distinguished men of the nation, and it has 
usually been found that her graduates have by upright lives, by leadership in 
business and activity in the world's afYairs reflected credit upon their alma 
mater. Many times has Mr. Stedman joined in giving the old Harvard yell, 
as with his college mates he has taken part in some of the exercises of the in- 
stitution. He completed his law course there and to-day is a member of the 
firm of Hastings & Stedman, lawyers of Seattle. 

Livingston Boyd Stedman was born in the city of Boston, Massachu- 
setts, February 2, 1864. His ancestral line traces back to an early day in the 
history of this countr}\ The Stedman family is of Scotch origin and was 
founded in America in 1638. Its representatives have been largely found in 
mercantile life, although there has been one physician and one lawyer. Dan- 
iel B. Stedman, the father of Livingston, was also born in Boston, where the 
family is yet represented, and he is still actively engaged in merchandising 
there at the age of sixty-two years. Throughout his entire life he has been 
identified with church work and his influence and efforts in that regard have 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 397 

been very- beneficial. He married Susan L. Boyd, a daughter of the Rev. 
George Boyd of Philadelphia, in which city she was born. She too came of 
one of the old families of America, her ancestors having located in this coun- 
try prior to the Revolutionary war. Her great-grandfather, Robert H. Liv- 
ingston, was a lieutenant in Henry Lamb's Second Regiment of Artillery in 
the Continental army from 1781 until 1783. Her father was a minister of 
the Episcopalian church. 

Li the family to which Livingston Boyd Stedman belongs there were 
four children, but he is the only one upon the Pacific coast. In early boy- 
liood he was a student in the old Mather school at Dorchester, which was the 
first public school established in the L^nited States. Later he entered the 
Roxbury Latin school to prepare for Harvard and subsequently matriculated 
in the university, in which he was graduated with the class of 1887, at which 
time the degree of Bachelor of Arts was conferred upon him, while in 1890 
his alma mater bestowed on him the degree of Master of Arts. 

In the same year Mr. Stedman came to Seattle and entered the office of 
(Zolonel Haines, desiring to thus gain a start as a member of the legal pro- 
fession of this city. He remained with Colonel Haines r.ntil the latter's 
death in 1892, when he entered into partnership with E. C. Hughes and H. 
H. A. Hastings, this relation between them being maintained for about eigh- 
teen months. Since that time Mr. Hastings and Mr. Stedman have been 
associated in practice together and since the first few months have continu- 
ously occupied the same offices in the Haller block. They largely practice 
mortgage and corporation law, and during the hard times through which the 
city passed they had more business in those lines than any other firm of at- 
torneys in Seattle. They are now attorneys for the Scottish- American 
Mortgage Company of Oregon, the Port Blakeley Mill Company and many 
others. While Mr. Stedman has made the practice of law his real life-work, 
he has also extended his efforts into other lines and is one of the organizers 
of the Snohomish Logging Company, the Snohomish Investment Company, 
the American Lumber and Shingle Company, the Standard Investment Com- 
pany and the J. T. Steeb Shipping Company, of all of which he is the secre- 
tan.^ He also belongs to the Chamber of Commerce and has been very active 
in promoting enterprises which have contributed to the city's good. 

In April, 1891, in Chester, Pennsylvania, Mr. Stedman was united in 
marriage to Ann B. Leiper, of Chester, Pennsylvania, and they have three 
sons: Daniel B., Lewis L.. and Livingston B. In the fall of 1891 Mr. 
Stedman erected his present residence. The summer months are spent 
across the Sound, near Port Blakely, where lie has built an attractive summer 



398 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

home. In politics he is a Republican, taking an active interest in local affairs 
as well as the important issues of the party. He has served as a delegate to 
most of the city and county conventions. While not a politician he has the 
welfare of the party at heart and has done considerable to secure its success. 
He belongs to the Phi Beta Kappa Society, is secretary and one of the organ- 
izers of the University Club, and is also identified with the Firloch Club, the 
Country Club, the Harvard Club and the Washington Society of the Sons of 
the .American Revolution. He was one of the charter members of the Seattle 
.\thletic Club, although he is not now itlentified with the organization, and he 
is a member of the Trinity Parish church, of which he formerly served as 
vestryman for a number of years. 

GEORGE E. HALLOCK. 

George E. Hallock is the general agent of the Union Alutual Life Insur- 
ance Company and is a member of the firm of Hallock & Smith, real estate 
and investment brokers, doing business in the Boston block in Seattle. His 
life history began on the 26th of February, 1854, when he first opened his 
eyes to the light of day in Kent county, Michigan. His father, Aaron E. 
Hallock, was born in New York in 1827, and in early life followed the mil- 
ler's trade. Alx)ut 1837 he became a resident of Michigan and spent the 
greater part of his remaining days in Montcalm county, that state. He was a 
member of the Wesleyan Methodist church and an earnest Christian man, 
honored for his fidelity to his professions. He died at the age of forty-seven 
years. His wife bore the maiden name of Harriet Stevens, and they became 
the parents of four children, George E.. being the only son. Abel Hallock, 
the paternal grandfather of our subject, was born in New York and at an 
early day emigrated westward, locating in the lower peninsula of Michigan 
when it was a very wild and unimproved district. There he engaged in 
hunting to a large extent, finding it a source of pleasure as well as of profit. 

.\ public school education was accorded George E. Hallock in Michigan. 
He was afterward engaged in business in his father's mills until he was 
twenty-four years of age, when he went to Hillsdale county, Michigan, and 
took a course in electricity and telegraphy in Grifiin Hall. He afterward re- 
moved to Illinois, where he engaged in railroad work with the Chicago & St. 
Paul Railroad Company, acting as telegraph operator and station agent. 
Fifteen years of his life were thus spent, and then he sought a home in the 
northwest, which has proved to him a good field of labor. 

On coming to Seattle in 1893, Mr. Hallock asumed the general agency 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 599 

of the Union Mutual Life Insurance Company. He had purchased a return 
trip ticket on leaving home, intending to return, but after a couple of months 
spent in Seattle he resovled to remain. The company with vvhich he had be- 
come connected was so well pleased with his services that they made him an 
excellent offer and he has since remained in charge of the business. While 
the company has since offered to him other positions probably more lucrative, 
he has preferred to make Seattle his permanent home. He has, however, 
taken up the business in other offices, and looks after the heavy interests of 
the company here. This company owns all of the sewer and water bonds of 
the city, and this item alone amounts to a very large figure. They also have 
in risks about eight hundred thousand dollars, most of which has been writ- 
ten since Mr. Hallock located here. In 1900 he formed a partnership with 
Mr. Smith and engaged in the real estate business as a member of the well 
hiown firm of Hallock & Smith. He has built and sold several mills in the 
northwest; one in Whatcom, another in Skagit county and a larger one in 
British Columbia. He has not given much of his personal attention to this, 
as he sold the controlling interests in the enterprises. He has also been iden- 
tified with the building interests of the city and his residence at 1515 Summit 
avenue is an attractive home. He also has two residences on Twenty-first 
avenue and one on Twentieth avenue. 

In Michigan, on the 25th of February, 1878, Mr. Hallock marired Ame- 
lia D. Oakley, who is a graduate of Hillsdale college, having completed the 
scientific course. She was also an expert telegrapher and often assisted her 
husband in that work. They now have two sons and two daughters : Mat- 
tie L., who for five years has been a successful and popular teacher in the 
schools of Seattle; Edna, who taught for two years in this city; Raymond, 
who is a graduate of the high school of Seattle and is a member of the Young 
Men's Christian Association; and George Oakley, wdio is yet in school here. 
All of the family are members of the Congregational chuixh. contributing 
liberally to its support and taking an active part in the work. In politics 
Mr. Hallock is a strong Republican and has been a delegate to nearly every 
city convention since his arrival in Seattle, but he has declined to accept office 
because it would demand too much of his time and attention. He has, how- 
ever, served as notary public for ten years. In 1894 he was admitted to the 
bar, but has never practiced, although his legal knowledge is of great benefit 
to him in his business affairs. The Masonic fraternity finds in him a pro- 
minent and leading member, and he belongs to Sycamore Lodge, F. & A. M., 
of Sycamore, Illinois. He is also a Knight of Templar and holds member- 
ship in the Oriental Consistory of Chicago and in Zurrah Temple of the Mys- 



400 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

lie Shrine at IMinneapolis. He belongs to the Independent Order of Odd 
Fellows and to the Hoo-Hoos No. 2420, of the Lumbermen's Union. He 
has membership relations \\ith Tent No. 8 ot the Knights of Maccabees, with 
the Modern Woodmen of America and with Loraine Chapter of the order of 
the Eastern Star. His has been a successful career, and the enviable result 
that he has attained may be attributed to his own indomitable energy and the 
close and assiduous attention he has paid to the minute portions of his affairs. 

FREDERICK K. STRUVE. 

Frederick K. Struve of tiie firm of John Davis & Company, real estate 
and loan agents of Seattle, is one of the native sons of Washington, his birth 
having occurred at Vancouver on the 17th of June, 1871. He is a son of 
Judge H. G. Struve, one of the prominent pioneers and eminent residents of 
this state, having located here at a very early day, since which time he has 
been an active factor in the substantial improvement and progress of this por- 
tion of the state. The family having removed to Seattle, the subject of this 
leview attended the public schools here and afterward spent two years as a 
student in the University of Washington. He then matriculated in the liter- 
ary department of the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, where he also 
remained for two years. In November, 1889, upon the organization of the 
Boston National Bank, he entered that institution in the capacity of clerk, 
and later as assistant cashier and thus served until April i, 1898. He after- 
ward spent two years in the First National Bank and in 1899 he formed a 
partnership with John Davis in the real estate, loan and insurance business. 
The firm of John Davis & Company is now one of the best known in the city, 
and the volume of business annually transacted by them has reached exten- 
sive proportions. Since 1896 Mr. Struve has represented the German Sav- 
ings Sz Loan Society of San Francisco, which does the largest loaning busi- 
ness in Washington. The company also have a large mortgage loan client- 
age and their operations in real estate annually reach a high figure. They 
have platted the Highland addition, and Mr. Struve himself platted the Pettit 
addition, while the firm has platted the Yesler estate addition and built thereon 
the residences which have improved that section of the city. The general 
business of the firm, however, has been transacted in the down-town proper- 
ties, many of which they handle, having managed important sales and also 
attended to the rental of many of the leading business blocks. The renting 
department has become an important part of their business and requires 
eighteen employes, all of whom are employed on stated salaries. Each de- 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 401 

department of the business is managed by a competent superintendent, and 
all is systematized and in splendid working condition. Their transactions 
nivohe the handling of many thousands of dollars within the course of a 
month, and the business is hardly second to any in this line in the city. 

In his political views Mr. Struve is a Republican, and he belongs to the 
Chamber oi Commerce of Seattle. He is also a member of the Chi Psi fra- 
lernitv and l)erame one of the organizers of the Seattle Athletic Club. He 
was chosen the first captain of the athletic team and later elected the vice- 
president of the society. He belongs to Rainier Club, Firloch Club, and the 
Golf & CountiT Club, being the secretary- of the last named. He is also 
treasurer of the Assembly Club. 

On the 17th of November, 1897, in this city, Mr. Stru\e was united in 
marriage to Miss Anna Furth, a daughter of Jacob Furth. She is well 
known as one of the leaders of the social world of Seattle, her home be- 
ing celebrated for its gracious hospitality and for its pleasing social func- 
tions. She belongs to the ladies' adjunct of the Golf Club, to some of the 
literary clubs of the city and is a member of the executive committee of the 
Assemljly Club. She is also a member of Trinity Parish church. From the 
arduous cares of an extensive business Mr. Struve finds pleasure and rest in 
golf and in travel and has visited all sections of his own country and has also 
gone abroad to Europe and Cuba. He is widely known as a young man of 
marked executive force. Intricate business situations he readily compre- 
hends, he forms his plans quickly and is prompt and accurate in their execu- 
tion Thus he has gained a wide reputation as a capable and successful man 
of business, a typical representative of the enterprise that has led to the 
marvelous development of the northwest. 

JOHN WENZLER. 

Much of the civilization of the world has come from the Teutonic race. 
Continually mo\-ing westward, they have taken with them the enterprise and 
advancement of their eastern homes and have become valued and useful citi- 
zens of various localities. In this country especially have they demonstrated 
their power to adapt themselves to new circumstances, retaining at the same 
time their progressiveness and energy, and have become loyal and devoted 
citizens, true to the institutions of the "land of the free" and untiring in pro- 
moting all that will prove of benefit to their adopted country. The German 
element in America forms an important part of American citizenship, and 
while they cannot attain to the highest civil office in the gift of the people of 



402 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

tliis land, they have given ample e\idence of their power to sustain and up- 
liold the government of the republic and to become the factors in various 
communities to whom the locality owes its progress and prosperity. 

When John Wenzler was born in Wurtemburg, Germany, December 
27, 1842, his parents may have hoped that a brilliant future lay before their 
son, but they did not dream that he was to become a leading and influential 
citizen of a large city of the American republic, and that iiis labors would 
bring to him a capital sufficient to enable him to put aside his business and 
jive retired in the aijoymait of the fruits of his former toil. He was a son 
of Alois and Katrina (Zeph) Wenzler, who had six children. He was ed- 
ucated in the schools of Germany and there learned the trade of a shoemaker. 
He afterward spent one year in France and three in Switzerland, and in 1865 
came to America, crossing the Atlantic on a sailing vessel which consumed 
thirty-eight days in making the voyage. After two months spent in New 
York, he made his way westward to Ohio and for four years was with his 
brother-in-law at Troy, Ohio, but because he suffered with fe\er and ague 
I here he decided to leave that place. 

The Southern Pacific Railroad had just been completed across the coun- 
try and he determined to make his way to California. He located in Sacra- 
mento and soon afterward entered into partnership with his employers, but 
being again troubled with fever he once more sold out and went to San Fran- 
cisco. Thinking that he would like to go north either to Oregon or Wash- 
ington, he strolled down to the wharf one day, and seeing a boat there in- 
quired where it was going. On being informed they were bound for Wash- 
ington, he took passage on the vessel and was landed at Yesler wharf in Seat- 
tle, after a voyage of thirteen days. Part of the passage had been very 
stormy, and thinking he had traveled enough, he decided to locate here. 

Seattle was then a town of about seven or eight hundred inhabitants. 
Mr. Wenzler determined to engage in business for himself and established 
a shoe store, which he successfully conducted until about fifteen years ago, 
when he sold out. He had enjoyed a very large trade, increasing with the 
grow-th of the city, and had acquired a handsome capital. On disposing of 
his store he became connected with real estate dealing. He platted five acres 
and bought and sold other property. In 1890 in connection with three 
others he purchased and platted one hundred and fifty-five acres, known as 
the York addition to Whatcom. He has also erected a number of residences 
in Seattle. In October, 1890, he erected his present home on Seventh aven- 
ue, at the corner of Cherry avenue, and in 1889 he built the two houses in the 
rear, on James, which he yet owns, besides unimproved property. His in- 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 403 

vestments have been carefully made and have resulted successfully, so that he 
is to-day one of the men of affluence of the city, having acquired a desirable 
capital that now enables him to live retired. 

On the 17th of October, 1878, Mr. Wenzler was married to Rosa Boeh- 
ler, who was born in Baden, Germany, and came to America in 1877. Their 
union was blessed with eleven children, five of whom are yet living, while two 
died in childhood. Those who still survive are Lena, Julia, Sophie, John 
r.nd Karl. Socially Air. Wenzler is connected with the Independent Order 
of Odd Fellows and is the oldest German representative of the society here. 
A Republican in his political affiliations, he has served as a delegate to the 
conventions of his party and has aided in the work which has extended the 
nitiuence and promoted the success of the organization. As a citizen his in- 
terest in and loyalty to Seattle has been manifest in many ways. He came 
here and found a village ; he has lived to see it take on metropolitan propor- 
tions, and his own energy and enterprise have supplemented the progressive 
spirit and unfaltering labor which have wrought this splendid result. When 
he came to America he readily adapted himself to the changed conditions of 
the new world, and as the years have passed he has prospered. He is whoUy 
worthy the respect which is everywhere tendered him, for his name is syn- 
onymous with honorable dealing and with all that is beneficial to the city of 
his adoption. 

ALONZO HULL. 

The task of writing the biography of a living representative man is a 
most difficult one, because the prevailing modesty of American manhood 
shrinks from personal prominence and invariably discourages even the most 
friendly attempt to uncover the secret of his success or popularity in life. 
The subject of this sketch is a typical representative of the fast-growing class 
of American landed proprietors, deriving his income from that safest of all 
investments, real estate. He is now quite extensively engaged in real estate 
operations in Seattle, which he has made his home since 1889. He has been 
closely identified with the improvement of the new city, since it. phenix-like, 
rose from its own ashes in the year of the great conflagration. 

Mr. Hull was bom in Lackawanna county. Pennsyhania. near the city 
of Scranton, January 12, 1844. The family was founded in America by 
three brothers who came from England, settling in Rhode Island, at an early 
period in the development of this countn.'. John Hull serv-ed as a valiant 
soldier in the American army during the Revolutionary war. William Hull, 



404 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

the father of our subject, was born in Massachusetts. When a young man, 
however, he removed to Pennsylvania and there engaged in farming and in 
the operation of a sawmill, and owned six hundred acres of good farm and 
coal land in that state. He also engaged in the mining of coal in the Lacka- 
wanna valley to some extent before the railroad was built in that locality, 
in his political affiliations he was a Whig and was a member of the Methodist 
church. He married Rebecca Parker, a daughter of Stephen Parker of 
Rhode Island. Her father was a man of influence in his community and 
highly respected for his sterling worth. Mr. and Mrs. Hull had seven chil- 
dren, of whom one died in infancy. George IM., the oldest, resides in Blakes- 
lee, Pennsylvania, where he is extensively engaged in farming and in the real 
estate business, having large landed interests and owning his own property. 
William H. is now living a retired life in Scranton, Pennsyhania; he served 
in the Thirteenth Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, during the Civil war. 
John L., for three years a member of the Fifty-second Pennsylvania Infantry 
during the war of the Rebellion, is now aigaged in merchandising. Stephen 
P., who was also a member of the Fifty-second Regiment, yet makes his home 
in Scranton; Alonzo is the next younger; Orestes T. follows farming nine 
miles north of Carbondale, Lackawanna county ; he was in the signal service 
of the armies during the Civil war. 

Alonzo Hull pursued his education in the public schools of East Hamp- 
ton, ^Massachusetts, in \V'illiston Seminary and in the Lewisburg University at 
Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. He served in the Thirtieth Regiment of Pennsyl- 
vania Volunteers during the Civil war. He was afterward in the employ of 
ills brother and later engaged in quarr)'ing slate in Bangor, Pennsylvania, 
and was engaged in the slate-roofing business in Scranton. He and his 
brother went to St. Louis in 1872, and there engaged in the slate-roofing 
business for thirteen years, conducting a very extensive and profitable busi- 
ness. At length, however, Mr. Hull met with an accident which kept him 
from labor with his brother for three years. He was obliged to sell out his 
business interests there, after which he spent some time in Arkansas, but he 
realized that the chances of recovering his health were slight in that state and 
decided to tr^^ the far west. Having heard favorable reports of the Sound 
country, he came to Washington and after viewing the district he was so 
pleased with Seattle and its prospects that he decided to locate here. He 
then returned to close out his affairs in the south, selling off all his property 
with the exception of eight hundred acres of land in Arkansas. 

In 1889 Mr. Hull became a resident of Seattle. He purchased a lot at 
ihe corner of Batterv street and First avenue and also two lots on Oueen Ann 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 405 

Hill. He had just let the contract for the erection of the Hull block at the 
time of the great fire in 1889. The contractor was not able to complete the 
building, so Mr. Hull personally undertook the work and with the assistance 
of builders here he continued the work until the building was ready for oc- 
cupancy. In consequence of this his building was completed much sooner 
than many others that were started immediately after the fire. It proved a 
profitable investment because business property was so much needed, and he 
immediately rented it. It is a three story structure, built of brick and is 
sixty by seventy feet, and there is also a basement vmder the entire block. 
There are offices and living rooms above while the first floor is used for store 
purposes. Mr. Hull has invested largely in real estate both impro\'ed and 
unimproved and has done considerable work in remodling his property, plac- 
ing it in marketable condition. He has also charge of some property for 
others and his attention is given to the supervision of his own interests as 
well. His real estate deals are now quite extensive and yield to him a good 
financial return. 

Mr. Hull has also been a most 'important factor in public affairs in the 
city and has done much for the general good. He votes the Republican 
ticket, and was elected by his party member of the city council, where he was 
prominent in the fight to secure the water works system for the city. Later, 
when he was not on the council, and another proposition to get control of the 
water supply came up, he took an active part in the contest to save the system 
to the city. It was a hard and bitter fight, requiring much time as well as 
money, to awaken the people to the danger; but notices were printed on 
wagons which were driven through the streets, meetings were held at various 
places, Mr. Hull acting as chairman at some of these meetings, and thus the 
attention of the public w'as awakened to what it would mean to have the 
water system pass from the control of the city. He also took an active part 
in defeating the scheme of the Northern Pacific Railway and in having the 
-Streets vacated on the water front, and thus preserved the control of these in 
the city, and his efforts have been untiring in behalf of any measure for the 
public good. 

While at St. Louis Mr. Hull was married on the i6th of May, 1877, to 
Miss Miriam F., a daughter of Stephen A. Bemis, a member of the largest 
bag manufacturing firm in the world, known as the Bemis Brothers Bag 
Company of St. Louis, with branches in Boston, Chicago, Omaha, San Fran- 
cisco, Minneapolis, West Superior, New Orleans and Indianapolis. To Mr. 
and Mrs. Hull have been bom seven children: Stephen A., who is engaged 
in the grocen,' business on Broadway in Seattle; John S. ; Herbert, who 



4o6 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

attends the high scliool of this city; Miriam; Alonzo, Jr; Farwell; and Ruth. 
Mrs. Hull is a member of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union and is 
an active and influential member of the Baptist church. She also belongs to 
the Queen Ann Club and is a leader in social circles. Mr. Hull is a charter 
member of the North Seattle Baptist church and is serving as one of its deac- 
ons and was active in the erection of the house of worship, contributing liber- 
ally to the support of the church and doing everything in his power to advance 
the cause of Christianity. Although charitable and benevolent, he is entirely 
without ostentation in work of this character. Among Seattle's business 
men none are more closely identified with the growth and best interests of the 
city than Mr. Hull, who has made his home here for more than a decade. 
For many years he has been known for his sterling qualities, his fearless 
loyalty to his honest convictions and his clear-headedness, discretion and tact 
as manager and leader. He ever places the general good liefore personal 
aggrandizement, and Seattle owes not a little to his efforts in her behalf. 

FRANK H. FOLSOM. 

It is given to but few men to say that in their line of busines they stand 
pre-eminent, but in the case of the subject of this memoir it can readily be 
done, for, as a shipper of telegraph and telephone poles and piles, his busi- 
ness probably more than doubles that of any other person in the state. 
Brought up in the logging business, he has made it his life work and the 
success he has attained is the result of untiring industry and application. A 
resident of the Sound country for the past fifteen years, he has had his share 
of financial trouble, but while he lost heavily in the great panic, he made a 
record that may well be envied, as instead of settling his debts at a discount 
he began working with unremitting zeal and thus labored until he paid off 
dollar for dollar every claim there was against him when the crash came, 
and thus to-day his credit is above question. 

A native of Maine, Mr. Folsom was born in Burlington. December 4, 
T863, in the same house in which his father had been born. Tlie paternal 
grandfather, Samuel Folsom, sensed in the Revolutionary war and attained 
to the remarkable age of one hundred nine years. John Folsom was en- 
gaged in logging and lumbering and died when his son, Frank H., was but 
three years of age. He had wedded Mary Sanborn and left a family of eight 
chidren, of whom the subject of this review is the seventh in order of birth. 

Frank H. Folsom pursued his studies in the public schools, but at that 
time educational institutions were ven,'^ limited as to their scope. He after- 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 40? 

ward pursued a short course in a business college and was only fifteen years 
of age when he began logging. When he had reached the age of nineteen 
he went to Boston, where he had many relatives and after two years spent in 
business there he made his way westward to Minnesota, where through the 
following three years he was engaged in logging. Looking to the future he 
realized that it would be but a comparatively short time when timber would 
be scarce in that country, so in 1887 he decided to come to Washington. He 
first located in Tacoma and engaged in electric construction in addition to 
conducting a hotel. His operations were very gratifying from a financial 
standpoint until the great panic, when all business was tied up and he could 
not meet his obligations for the time being. He thai went to Everett and en- 
gaged in outside electric constraction work and was the contractor on the 
street-car lines and electric light lines, and in fact set every pole that was put 
in at that place during the five years of his residence there. Believing that 
Seattle had a bright future in store for it he decided to make this city his per- 
manent headquarters. He had spent considerable time here before and in 
1897 he took up his permanent abode here. While in Everett he began con- 
stniction work in Los Angeles, California, but soon received such large 
orders for poles that he gave up construction work and began shipping tele- 
{ihone poles. Since that time he has devoted the most of his attention to 
shipping poles and piles, which he has sent as far east as Minnesota, Wiscon- 
.^in, Illinois and Michigan, as far south as California, as far westward as the 
Hawaiian islands, Australia and Japan, having built up a business in this line 
of over thirty thousand dollars a month. He now has an order on hand for 
filling a contract that will amount to fifty thousand dollars, first cost at this 
end. He has invested largely in timber land, owning over four thousand 
acres in Kitsap county, where he maintains a number of logging camps and 
(luring the busy season gives employment to four hundred men. In addition 
he purchases about three-fourths as many poles and piles as lie is able to get 
out himself. He furnished the first poles for building the roads both in 
Portland and Tacoma, and supplies the traps for the salmon fishers as far as 
the Gulf of Georgia. He keeps two tugs employed throughout the year, and 
during the busy season four or five tugs. Mr. Folsom has done considerable 
work for telegraph companies and took a contract to cut the right of way and 
furnish the poles for the Western Union line from Seattle to the British Co- 
lumbia line, a work that he completed in sixty days, although most of the 
way lay through a heavy timber region. 

In June, 1890, at Olympia, Mr. Folsom was united in marriage to Miss 
Nellie Hays, a daughter of John P. Hays, a retired ranchman who came to the 



4oS REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

nortliwest in 1852. He ser\ed as Indian agent in the early days and took 
ijart in the Indian war of 1857. He was born in Missouri and made the trip 
to Cahfornia at the time of the excitement over the discovery of gold in 1849. 
Mr. and Mrs. Folsom are the parents of three children, Hazel, who is now a 
student in the public schools and stands at the head in singing, and is presi- 
dent of the Junior Christian Endeavor society; John Hays; and Irbe. Mrs. 
Folsom is a member of the Plymouth Congregational church. I'hcir home 
is located in Eighth avenue between Seneca and Spring streets and Mr. Fol- 
som intends erecting a fine residence on Madison street in the near future. 
His political affiliations are with the Republican party, but he has never taken 
a very active part in politics, as his extensive business mterests require his 
close attention, and therefore he has refused to accept a nomination to any 
office. He is a maiiber of the Chamber of Commerce and of a number of fra- 
ternal organizations, chief among which are the Knights of Pythias, the In- 
dependent Order of Odd Fellows, and the Woodmen of the World. 

Such in brief is the life history of one of a class of men who have been in- 
strumental in the rapid development and improvement of this wonderful 
country. He stands as a worthy example of what may be accomplished here 
by close attention and energy combined with laudable ambition. After the 
financial panic he was left with a large indebtedness on his hands, and the 
profits which accrued from his work at Everett were all used in meeting his 
obligations at Tacoma, so that when he began business in Seattle he had prac- 
tically no capital. He has, however, built up an enterprise the profits of which 
have never fallen below ten thousand dollars any year and have reached as 
high as fifteen thousand dollars. The greater part of this he has invested in 
timber land, so that he will realize more largely in the future from his pro- 
perty. His office is in the new Colman dock building and consists of a fine 
suite of rooms which are conveniently furnished and arranged for the dis- 
charge of his business duties. Mr. Folsom is to-day one of the most prom- 
inent representative business men of the northwest, possessing marked enter- 
prise, keen discernment and capability. 

FRANK H. OSGOOD. 

In the past ages the history of a country was the record of wars and 
conquests; to-day it is the record of commercial activity, and those whose 
names are foremost in its annals are the leaders in business circles. The con- 
quests now made are those of mind over matter, not of man over man, and 
the victor is he, who can successfully establish, control and operate exten- 




c^ 





SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 409 

sive business interests. Frank H. Osgood is one' of those strong and influen- 
tial men whose Hves have become an essential part in the history of Seattle. 
As president of the Seattle & Renton Electric Railway he occupies a front 
rank in business circles. 

Air. Osgood was born in Charleston, Sullivan county. New Hampshire, 
on the 2d of February, 1852, and belongs to an old New England family of 
English origin, which was founded in this country in colonial days, his an- 
cestors ha\-ing fought for American independence in the Revolutionary war. 
He was educated in the public schools of his native town and the Colby Aca- 
demy. Throughout his active business life he has been a railroad builder 
and has built a number of electirc railways in the northwest. He lias the 
distinction of building and having put in operation one of the first successful 
electric roads in the United States. Since 1884 he has been a resident of 
Seattle and is today the owner of the Seattle & Renton Railway, having pur- 
chased the road in 1895. At present, it is the only road outside of the com- 
bination, and under his able management it is now in successful operation, 
.Mr. Osgood has other heavy interests in the northwest, principally in min- 
ing, timber lands, etc. He was one of the incorporators and was treasurer 
of the Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern Railway, a line originally designed to 
give Seattle a connection with some trans-continental road from the east. 
It was purchased by the Northern Pacific and is now being operated as a 
l)art of that system. He was president of the Seattle Street Railway Com- 
pany from its inception to the organization of tlie Seattle Railway & Power 
Company, and was president of the latter company which is now a part of 
the Seattle Electric Railway Company. Mr. Osgood's railway buildging 
marks a distinct period in the history of the state as he was the builder of the 
first street lailway in Washington territory. 

In 1877 he was united in marriage with Miss Georgina Arquit, of Brook- 
Ivn, New York, who presides with gracious dignity over their elegant home. 
They are members of the Episcopal church, and Mr. Osgood is also a member 
of the leading clubs of the city. He is prominent in social, as well as busi- 
ness circles, being a pleasant, genial and polished gentleman, of high social 
qualities, and has an extensive circle of friends and acquaintances who esteem 
him highly for his genuine worth. 

ELEAZER P. WHITNEY. 

Eleazer P. Whitney and his estimable wife are widely known in Black 
Diamond and throughout the surrounding district. He was born in Harri- 
son, Cumberland county, Maine, on the 15th of February, 1846. His an- 



410 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

cestors were descendants of John Whitney, who came to the New England 
eoast in 1641. Many representatives of the family have figured i>rominently 
in the industrial or political history of this great country since that period. 
Direct ancestors of Eleazer P. were in the Revolutionarj' war, and his great- 
grandfather, Daniel F., was one of the twelve who drove the British out of 
Portland, Maine, in 18 12. Eleazer P. Whitney was educated in the common 
schools of his native county, and in the academy at Bridgton, Maine. In 
1873 he. went to Chicago and was employed in the offices of the Pittshurg & 
Fort Wayne Railroad Company for two years, and for the succeeding two 
years he was stationed at Fort Wayne, Indiana, in the employment of the 
same corporation. In 1877 he w'ent to San Francisco, California, where he 
was engaged in the teaming and transfer business for two years. 

Mr. Whitney was married in Septemlier in 1875, to Mary E. Dwyer, 
and in 1879 they came to Washington, settling on a section of school land at 
Stuck, King county, where they lived for five years. On the e.Kpiration of 
that period they sold their property and removed to the Green river valley in 
1884, taking up a homestead on the beautiful farm on which they have since 
lived. By purchase they have added to the original tract until they now have 
a very valuable and extensive farm of three hundred and nine acres located 
on Green river about nine miles from Auburn, and on the line of the Northern 
Pacific Railroad. It is also four miles from the gold mining town of Black 
Diamond. This farm is devoted to dairying and to general agriculture. All 
of its products find a ready sale on the market of Black Diamond, which has a 
population of about five hundred people. 

Mr. Whitney votes the Republican ticket and has firm laith in the plat- 
form of the party. He belongs to Diamond Lodge No. 83, F. & A. M., and 
10 the Eastern Star chapter at Black Diamond. He has met with success in 
his business affairs and is to-day accounted one of the progressive and enter- 
prising agriculturists of this locality. 

Mr. Whitney has been ably assisted by his estimable wife, who has had 
r. long career of notable activity and is well known not only in the west but in 
the eastern and middle states. She was born in Syracuse, New York, Jan- 
uary 22, 1838. and received her early education in the public schools of Syra- 
cuse, and the Pompeii Seminary, and Fa\etteville Academy, near there, her 
education being completed under the direction of her father, who was an ac- 
complished scholar, and he well prepared his talented daughter for the battle 
of life. She engaged in school teaching in the vicinity of her girlhood home 
for about twelve years. In 1873 she went to Chicago and for three years 
was employed there as a drygoods clerk. During that time she first became 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 4" 

known as a forcible writer of much ability, being a contriijutor to the old 
Chicago Times, then edited and published by Story. She won the warm 
personal friendship of that gentleman, who remained her friend until his 
death. From Chicago Mrs. Whitney went to San Francisco, California, in 
1875. and there engaged in dressmaking for three years. As above stated, 
she came with her husband to Washington in 1879 and has since been identi- 
fied with the interests of King county and of this state, principally as an 
earnest and forcible reform writer for various newspapers and periodicals, 
both of the east and of the west. For many years her home has been visited 
by prominent people throughout the country, who delight in the lavish hos- 
pitality bestowed by herself and very excellent husband. 

HARRY A. RASER. 

Harry A. Raser is one of the busy, energetic and prominent business 
men of Seattle, representing insurance and loan interests, with an office at 
210 Pioneer building. He has been a resident of the city since 1889. arriv- 
ing just after the great conflagration which swept over Seattle, and has con- 
tributed in no small manner to its upbuilding and since that time he has taken 
an active part in its progress and improvement. A native of Pennsylvania, 
he was born in Lewisburg, Union county, on the i6th of December, 1852. 
The origin of the family in this country is not distinctly known, but the rec- 
ords can be traced back in an unbroken line to Baltus Raser, who, on the 6th 
of February. 1743. married Man,- Lucken. according to the custom of the 
Society of Friends. INIr. Raser has a copy of the original certificate, which is 
attested by the congregation then present, fifty-five signatures being appended 
in addition to those of the contracting parties. Their son Bernard Raser 
was married in 1790 to Mary Heyl, a daughter of Phillip Heyl, who served 
in the Revolutionary' war as an ensign in the regiment of Philadelphia As- 
sociates under command of Colonel John Cadwallader. Bernard Raser 
joined this company February 2, 1775, and was a noted member of the same. 
He was the great-grandfather of our subject. His son, Bernard Raser, 
served in the war of 1812, holding the rank of captain. Of the six children 
born to him. Thomas Raser was the second in order of birth. The youngest 
was a daughter, Mary, who became the wife of John H. Vincent. Their 
son. Reverend John H. Vincent, of Topeka, a bishop of the Methodist Epis- 
copal church, is one of the most prominent divines, not only of that de- 
nomination, but of the entire country. He is a leader of great ability, of 
strong mentality, and moreover an earnest Christian gentleman, who stands 



412 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

as a type of honorable manhood, developed by Christian principles. In the 
summer of 1899 he visited Seattle, and was entertained in the home of 
Mr. Raser of this review. 

Thomas Raser, the father of our subject, was born in rhiiadelphia 
August 26, 1793, and at Chillisquaque, Pennsylvania, on the 3otli cf Sep- 
tember, 1841, he married Elizabeth Knight Brown, who was born in Sun- 
iniry, Pennsylvania, June 8, 1819. In early life he was a contractor and also 
engaged in carrj-ing on a grist and sawmill at Chillisquaque as well as con- 
ducting a farm there. In all his business affairs he was very successful and 
was a man of influence in his community. When he closed out his in- 
dustrial interests there in 1854 and removed to Waterford, Erie county, 
Pennsylvania, the community in which he had lived felt that it had lost one 
of its most valued representative men. After taking up his abode in Water- 
ford he lived a retired life until called to his final rest on the 8th of De- 
cember, 1857. He left a comfortable estate, but the trustee appointed by 
ihe court, after paying the interest on the principal for three years, failed 
and left the widow helpless with the care of seven children. 

Harry A. Raser then started out to gain his own education. While 
the family was at Waterford he pursued his studies in the public schools 
and the Waterford Academy, paying for his tuition at the academy by 
serving as janitor and performing other duties in the school. In 1866 the 
family moved to Erie, Pennsylvania, where he attended the Eric Academy 
for two terms and in April, 1867, he started out to earn his own way, be- 
coming messenger boy in the employ of the Western Union Telegraph Com- 
pany at Erie, at a salary of fifteen dollars per month. He was then four- 
teen years of age. While thus engaged he learned telegraphy and after- 
ward accepted a clerkship, becoming shippmg clerk for the Erie & Pitts- 
burg Railroad at Newcastle, Pennsylvania. In 1869, when the Pennsylvania 
Company leased the Erie & Pittsburg Railroad, he was employed by the 
new corporation and filled various positions, such as telegraph operator, 
ticket and freight agent. He was stationed at various places on the Erie 
& Ashtabula divisions of the Pennsylvania Company's system and remained 
with that corporation continuously until 1889, with the exception of the 
years 1873 and 1874 spent as bookkeeper in the employ of the Shenango 
Furnace Company at West Middlesex, Pennsylvania. 

In 1889 Mr. Raser took a vacation of two months, and made a trip 
to San Francisco. There he met a friend who gave such glowing accounts 
of business opportunities for young men in the Puget Sound country that 
Mr. Raser decided to sever his connection with the Pennsvlvania Com- 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 413 

pany, go north and locate with his friend in Tacoma. Going to Seattle 
a few days later, and noting its great business activity, he concluded "Seat- 
tle was good enough for him." He at once engaged in the loan and gen- 
eral insurance business, a little later becoming a partner in the W. L. Gaggan 
C^onipany. The business was afterwards reorganized under the firm name 
of Goodwin, Raser & Fisken, under which title operations were continued 
until 1895, when Mr. Goodwin sold his interest to his i^artners. They 
continued the business under the firm name of Raser & Fisken. Since 1899 
Air. Raser has had no partner, conducting a general insurance and loan 
business at 210 Pioneer building. The insurance departmerit embraces fire, 
life, marine, accident, burglar, plate glass, surety bonds, liability and excess 
credit. 

On the 25th of July, 1897, Mr. Raser joined the first rush to the Klon- 
dike, taking passage on the steamship "Me.Kico." He reached Skagway before 
the White Pass trail had been blazed through. Those who accomplished 
that perilous journey that year know only too well the hardships endured and 
difficulties encountered during the two months required to make the trip 
to Bennett. At Bennett, with his partner, he whip-sawed lumber and built 
a boat in which they made the trip to Dawson, accomplishing what, at that 
time, was considered a great feat, namely, going through Miles canyon and 
shooting the White Horse rapids without a pilot, and with all their goods 
on board. On the morning of November loth they found themselves op- 
posite Dawson in mid-stream, their boat wedged in an ice gorge which was 
moving rapidly down the river. Before them lay the objective point of 
those weeks of toil and hardship, but they were powerless to reach it. No 
mortal hand could stay the on-rushing of that field of ice. Anxiously watch- 
ing the shore, they noticed a lessening of their speed and when exactly 
opposite the sawmill in Dawson, to their great surprise and rejoicing the 
gorge stopped, attracting the attention of those on shore; boards were laid 
across the ice to them and their goods were carried to land. No sooner had 
they reached the land than the gorge broke away, carrying off their boat, 
and it seemed that the temporary stoppage was providential. This was the 
last boat to reach Dawson that year. Mr. Raser had a varied experience 
in the Klondike. He secured a lay claim on No. 7, below Bonanza, and 
performed all the various duties incumbent upon miners on those days. In 
August, 1889, with two others, he started down the Yukon for St. Michaels 
in a double end scow, making two thousand miles in twenty days, reaching 
St. Michaels in time to catch the Humboldt on her last trip to Seattle that 
vcar. 



414 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

At Greenfield, Pennsylvania, on the 20th of October, 1875, ^^^- Raser 
was united in marriage to Miss May W. Iddings, a daughter of Dr. Warren 
Iddings, of Warren, Trumbull county, Ohio, and a granddaughter of Thomas 
Denny Webb, a noted attorney of the western reserve, in which he served 
as a circuit judge. Mr. and Mrs. Raser have three children, Carrie Beth, 
Laura, and Charles Iddings. In his political views Mr. Raser is a Republi- 
can and has served as a delegate to party conventions, but has never sought 
or desired office. He is quite prominent in social and fraternal circles, 
and his wife is a valued member of the Queen Anne Fortnightly Club, of which 
she is now serving as treasurer. Mr. Raser belongs to St. John's Lodge 
Xo. 9, F. & A. M. He has taken an active interest in Masonic work and 
holds membership in Seattle Chapter No. 3. R. A. M., Seattle Commandery 
No. 2, K. T., of which he is a past eminent commander and is a member 
of Afifi Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Tacoma. He is also connected with 
the order of the Sons of the American Revolution. In religious views he 
is a Presbyterian and has been an active and energetic member, filling various 
offices in the past. Since coming to Seattle Mr. Raser has been numbered 
among the representative citizens, taking a deep interest in the progress and 
upbuilding of the northwest. Prominent and reliable in business and [jop- 
ular in social circles, he well deserves mention in this volume. 

SYLVESTER GOODRICH. 

Sylvester Goodrich has resided upon the Pacific coast almost continu- 
ously for a half century, having taken up his abode in California in 1852. 
He is therefore largely familiar with the history of the niiprovement and 
settlement as also of the upbuilding of this portion of the country. The 
width of the continent separates him from the place of his birth, for he 
was born in Rome, New York, on the i6th of November, 1831. He came 
of an old New Englantl family, his father, Isaac Goodrich, having been 
born in Connecticut, where he was reared by an uncle, his father having died 
when he was but a child. When seventeen years of age, Isaac Goodrich 
removed from Connecticut to Oneida county. New York, where he became 
a prosperous farmer. He was united in wedlock to Miss Mary Hollister, a 
native of the Empire state, and, like her husband, of English descent. He 
died on the old farm in i860 and she continued to make her home there 
imtil called to her final rest in 1870. 

To the public school system of Oneida county. New York, Sylvester 
Goodrich is indebted for the educational privileges which he enjoyed in his 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 415 

youth. At an early age he was trained to habits of industry, economy and 
honesty. He worked in field and meadow, thus assisting his father until he 
was twenty years of age, when, with a desire to see some of the world 
and gain a fortune, he left home in 1852 and went by way of the Isthmus 
of Panama to California, attracted by the discovery of gold in that state:, 
l^or six months after his arrival lie was engaged in mining at Placerville, 
and then made a short visit to Portland, Oregon, after which he returned 
to California and spent three years in the various placer mining districts 
of that state. About 1872 we went to Colorado and was engaged in min- 
ing in the regions of Leadville and Denver, Pueblo and Durango, for about 
ten years. In 1888 he went to Seattle, and erected a business house on 
Jackson street, which, however, was destroyed in the great fire which swept 
over the citv in 1889. Mr. Goodrich then came to Auburn, wdiich has since 
been his home. He and his two step-sons, Walter and Arthur, keep a public 
house in this town. Mr. Goodrich has also accumulated a considerable 
amount of town and farm property, having a tract of thirteen and one-half 
acres a mile and a half from Auburn, together with a valuable farm ad- 
joining the town and lying on both sides of White river. This he purchased 
in 1901, laid it off in town lots and this addition to Auburn is destined to 
be a popular building district, of this growing place. 

Mr. Goodrich has been twice married. In Canajoharie, IMontgomery 
county. New York, he was joined in wedlock in 1856 to l\Iary E. Thorp, 
v.-ho was born in that place in 1831, and died in Duranga, Colorado, in 1884, 
after traveling life's journey with him for twenty-eight years. In Febru- 
ar}% 1895, occurred the marriage of Mr. Goodrich and Mrs. Anna Rummel, 
who was born in Germany in 1858. By her former marriage she had four 
children: Walter, Arthur, George and Viola. 

Mr. Goodrich exercises his right of franchise in support of the men 
and measures of the Republican party and takes an active interest in local 
l)olitical affairs, doing all in his power to promote the growth and insure 
the success of the principles in which he believes. He became a member of 
the Alasonic order in New York, and since locating in Auburn he has be- 
come a member of the order of Red Men. The story of mining experiences 
in the west from the early days of the development of the gold regions of 
California is familiar to him through actual experience. He has witnessed 
much of the substantial upbuilding and progress of this section of the coun- 
try and has ever been deeply interested in what has been accomplished here. 
In his own career he has shown that industry and determination are valuable 
requisites in winning success. 



4i6 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

MRS. S. J. BOGART. 

Deeply engraved on the pages of pioneer history of King county is the 
name of Mrs. S. J. Bogart, for she was one of the first to locate m the Ever- 
green state. Her history forms a connecting link between the primitive past 
and the enterprising present, from the days of dugouts, sod houses and unim- 
proved farms to those of marked prosperity, and during all these years she 
has so ordered her life as to gain the love and esteem of all who have had the 
pleasure of her acquaintance. 

Mrs. Bogart bore the maiden name of Nancy Matilda Ilembree, and her 
birth occurred in Springfield, Missouri, on the 3d of May, 1837, being a 
daughter of Captain A. J. and Nancy (Dodson) Hembree, who were well 
known residents of Tennessee. In 1843 the family started on the long and 
tiresome journey to the west, being piloted across the plains by the noted 
Marcus Whitman, and their objective point was Oregon. The journey was 
full of perilous adventures and miraculas escapes, not only from the hostile 
savage, but b}- loss of stock, for the want of water and food as they slowly 
wended their way across the sandy deserts. Sometimes there would come 
up a terrific storm, the tents would be torn from their fastenings, their con- 
tents scattered to the four winds, and the poor women and children would 
stand huddled together or crouched beneath the wagons, their only protec- 
tion from the pitiless rain. There were both deaths and births on the road. 
One boy was run over by a wagon and killed. The dead were tenderly laid 
away in rude caskets, made of boxes or whatever could be procured, and 
companies following would find the graves desecrated by the Indians, the 
bodies being left to the mercy of the prairie wolf. They were a forlorn and 
weary crowd when they arrived on the' Columbia river, where Dalles City 
now stands. Learning that they could go no farther with their wagons, 
they hired Indians to take them down the river in boats. Any one that has 
ever seen the rocks, whirlpools, and cascades for which the Columbia river 
is noted between there and Portland can have a faint idea of the dangerous un- 
dertaking before them. Often the water would dash over the boat, completely 
drenching the occupants, when they would land, build bonfires and dry their 
clothes and bedding. The men would then tow the boats until they reached 
smoother water, while the women would climb over the rocks and logs along 
the shore, carrying and dragging their little ones with them until they could 
take passage again. Six months were consumed ere the little party arrived in 
Oregon City, then a trading post of the Hudson Bay Company. During the 
journey down the river a young girl died and was buried on the present 




.^^ tx^lp (^^.«^^/- 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 41 7 

site of Portland, then a dense wilderness. After remaining one year in Ore- 
gon City, Mr. Henibree secured a claim in Yamhill county, that state, and 
there the daughter, Nancy Matilda, attended the district schools, her instruc- 
tor being the well known Judge Deady. Her father served as captain of a 
company during the Indian war of 1855 and 1856 and was killed in battle 
near where Yakima now stands. His mutilated body wa.- brought home 
and laid to rest with Masonic and military honors at the homestead, which 
he had given his life to obtain. His widow after surviving him twenty 
years, rejoined her beloved husband in the home beyond. In Yamhill coun- 
ty. Oregon, Miss Hembree gave her hand in marriage to H. H. Snow, a 
merchant, and in 1877 they came to Renton, King county, Washington, 
where Mr. Snow established a mercantile business, thus continuing until his 
death. This union resulted in the birth of ten children, of whom three are 
hving, namely: Algenora, who became the wife of F. W. Martin, of Ore- 
gon; Izella, who married J. A. Morris, of Renton; and Willard R., a resi- 
dent of Minnesota. In 1891 Mrs. Snow was united in marriage to S. J. 
Bogart, and they now reside in a beautiful home in Renton, where they dis- 
pense a gracious hospitality to their many friends and acquaintances. Mrs. 
Bogart is a member of the Pioneer society and as far as can be ascertained, 
there are none in Washington and but few in Oregon that crossed the plains 
at the time she did. The emigrants of 1843 were the first to cross the plains 
in wagons. She is well known as a writer and has contributed many in- 
teresting articles to the local papers and magazines of early reminiscences of 
the pioneer days. 

JOHN MUELLER. 

The subject of this review has well earned the proud American title of 
a self-made man, for in the active world of business he has overcome dif- 
ficulties and obstacles, and unaided has worked his way upward until he 
is now numbered among the most prosperous representatives of the busi- 
ness interest of the commonwealth. W^ith signal consistency it may there- 
fore be said that he is the architect of his own fortune, for through his own 
exertions he has attained the honorable position he now occupies as super- 
intendent of the Seattle Brewing and Malting Company, yir. Mueller was 
born in the Rhine-Pfaltz district of Germany on the 4th of November, 1861, 
his parents being Adam and Eliese (Blaesi) Mueller, both also natives of 
the fatherland. In this family were eight children, all of whom came to 
America, and seven of the number are still living, namelv: Daniel, Theo- 



4i8 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

dore, John, Adam, Katie, Lottie and Jacob. Adam Mueller, the father, 
was extensively engaged in the manufacture of toys and in clay work in 
his native land. 

John Mueller, the third child in order of birth in the above family, 
left the parental home at the age of twelve years and became an apprentice 
at the brewer's trade, at which he served for two years, the latter part of 
which was spent in the city of Kaiserslautern. About this time Mr. 
Mueller was imbued with a desire to seek a field of broader opportunities 
for his labors and accordingly came to America, making the journey alone, 
but in Chicago, Illinois, he joined two of his brothers who had preceded 
him to the new world. After his arrival here he found employment at 
the brewer's trade in Blue Island, Illinois, where he remained for two 
years, on the expiration of which period he removed to (Ottawa, Illinois, 
being at that time eighteen years of age. In the latter city he assumed the 
position of foreman of a brewery, and in 1880 he went to New York to 
enter the brewers' academy, where he completed a year's course in general 
studies, together with the technic of the brewer's trade. Returning thence 
to Chicago, Illinois, Mr. Mueller was employed during the following four 
years as foreman for the Ernst Brothers brewing house, while for the suc- 
ceeding three and a half years he was foreman for the firm of Lutz & Son 
at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and in 1891 he came to Seattle and assumed 
the position of foreman for the Claussen & Sweney Brewing Company, soon 
securing an interest in that industry. In 1893, however, the company was 
consolidated with two others, and the Seattle Brewing and Malting Com- 
pany was organized, of which Mr. Mueller was chosen superintendent in 
1893. The company soon began remodeling and enlarging their old plant 
at Georgetown, and within the last two years two new buildings have been 
erected, which occupy about five acres of ground and represent an outlay 
of four hundred and fifty thousand dollars. This is the largest as well as 
the most modern and best equipped establishment of the kind west of the 
Mississippi river. In addition to his interest in this valualile establishment 
Mr. Mueller is also financially connected with the firm of Mueller Brothers 
of Chicago, the business 'of which is conducted by three brothers, Theo- 
dore, Daniel and Jacob. Mr. Mueller of this review is interested in many 
local improvements in Seattle, and for four years has served as a member 
of the school board. The application of his thorough business methods 
has resulted in the removal of a heavy debt from this district and has re- 
sulted in general improvement. 

On the 28th of Mav, 1889, occurred the marriage of Mr. Mueller and 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 4^9 

Miss Bertha Diesing. and this union has resulted in the birth of three chil- 
dren, Minnie, Chester and Margery. The family reside in a pleasant and 
commodious residence in Georgetown, which was erected in 1892, and there 
hospitality reigns supreme. Religiously Mr. Mueller was reared in the 
Lutheran faith, and in his political relations he is allied with the Republican 
party. He is an active worker in the ranks of Republicanism, and has many 
times sers'ed as a delegate to the county and state conventions of his party, 
but he has never been an aspirant for the honors or emoluments of public 
office. His character and position strongly illustrates the fact that if a young 
man but possesses the high attributes of mind and heart he can readily at- 
tain to a point of unmistakable precedence and gain for himself a place among 
the leading business men of his community, and it proves that the road to 
success is open for all young men who have the courage to tread its path- 
way. His life record should serve as an inspiration to the young of this 
and future generations and teach by incontrovertible facts that success is 
ambition's end. 

ANDREW HE:\IRICH. 

With a deep and abiding interest in the city of Seattle, in its progress 
and improvement, Andrew Hemrich has done much for its advancement, 
laboring earnestly along lines that have contributed to its material upbuild- 
ing. He is therefore known as one of its valued citizens. He is further- 
more prominent in business affairs and a recognized leader in the ranks of 
the Republican party, on whose ticket he was elected to the office of state 
senator in 1898, so that he is now serving. 

Mr. Hemrich was born in Alma, Wisconsin. October 31. 1856, and is a 
son of John and Catherine (Koeppel) Hemrich, both of whom were natives 
of Germany, the father having been born in Baden, while the mother's birth 
occurred in Bavaria. In youth they came to America and the father traveled 
across the country in a co\-ered wagon from Rochester, New York, to Iowa, 
stopping for a while at Mount Vernon, Indiana, thus making his way to Keo- 
kuk. Iowa, where he engaged in the brewing business. He followed that pursuit 
until 1852, when he loaded his brewery appliances and fixtures upon a barge 
which was towed to Alma, Wisconsin. There he again established a brewei-y, 
which he successfully conducted for thirty years. In 1884 he came to Seat- 
tle, where his son Andrew had previously located, and joined him in the 
organization and incorporation of the Bay View Brewing Company, which 
was conducted under the firm name until 1893. when it became the Bay 



420 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

View branch of the Seattle Brewing and Waking Company. About 1891 
John Hemrich retired from active business hfe, enjoying a well merited 
rest until called to his final home in 1897. His wife still survives him and 
resides at the old home in Bay View. He was a very active and energetic 
business man, reliable in all his trade transactions and his industry and 
capable management brought to him splendid success. In politics he was 
a Democrat and during the war of the rebellion served as sheriff of Buffalo 
county, Wisconsin. To him and his wife were born ten children : Edwin, 
who died at the age of six years ; George, who passed away at the age of 
eighteen; Louise, who became the wife of John Lick, and died at the age 
of twenty-four; Matilda, who married John Lick, and died at the age of 
twenty-nine years ; Andrew, whose name introduces this review ; John, who 
is living retired; Emma, the widow of Frederick Kirschner; William, who 
is connected with the Bay View Brewery ; Alvin and Louis, who are members 
of the firm of Hemrich Brothers. 

During his boyhood days Andrew Hemrich pursued his education in 
the common schools, which he attended until fourteen years of age. He 
then left home and went to the wild mining regions of the west, spending 
about ten or twelve years on the prairies of Colorado, Nevada, Idaho and 
]VIontana. He was there engaged in mining and was also connected with 
brewing interests, establishing a brewery at Glendale, Montana, which he 
conducted for several years. He then sold his plant there and accepted a 
position as manager superintendent of the Bozeman Brewing Company of 
Bozeman, Montana. He occupied that position for two years and upon re- 
signing he came to Seattle in accordance with plans perfected to establish a 
brewery business in company with John Kopp. 

Mr. Hemrich arrived in this city February 18, 1883, and has since been 
one of its residents, active in its business affairs and a recognized leader in 
political circles. The same year he established a business at Bay View under 
the firm name of Kopp & Hemrich, which business was conducted for two 
years, at the end of which time he was joined by his father, John Hemrich, 
and his brother-in-law, Frederick Kirschner, in the organization and in- 
corporation of the Bay View Brewing Company, which was conducted under 
that style until 1893. The business was then merged into the Seattle Brew- 
wing and IVIalting Company, whose trade has grown from a modest beginn- 
ing to mammoth proportions, and it is now the largest establishment of the 
kind on the coast. In addition to the plant at Bay View, there has been a col- 
lossal new brick structure erected at Georgetown. It required three years in 
its construction and has just been coinpleted. It now has a capacity of three 



SEATTLE AND KLNG COUNTY. 421 

liundred thousand barrels per year. The brand "Ranier'' is as famous on 
t!ie coast as the Pabst and SchHtz brews are in the middle and eastern section 
of the country. ]\Ir. Hemrich was chosen president on the organization of 
the new company and still serves in that capacity. He has excellent business 
ability and executive force, his plans are readily and substantially formed and 
he is determined in their execution and carries forth to a successful conclu- 
sion whatever he commences, brooking no obstacles that can be overcome by 
persistent, honorable and earnest effort. 

Mr. Hemrich has long been deeply interested in important measures for 
the improvement and upbuilding of Seattle. He was one or the organizers 
and is vice-president of the Seattle and Lake Washington Water-way Com- 
pany, and many other interests of importance owe their successful existence 
to his wise counsel and active co-operation. No movement or measure cal- 
culated to prove of benefit to the city solicits his aid in vain, for he has ever 
been a generous contributor to every interest for the general good. In poli- 
tical affairs, too, he is well known, and has labored earnestly and effectively 
for the improvement and growth of the Republican party, of which he has 
long been a stalwart and earnest supporter. He was elected in 1898 on that 
licket to the office of state senator and is still occupying this position. He 
has given due consideration to all matters which have come up for action and 
has left the impress of his individuality upon the legislation enacted during 
his term. 

In November, 1884, Mr. Hemrich was united in marriage to Miss ]\Iaria 
Hucke, a native of Germany, and to them have been born five children : John, 
.\lvin, Ernest, Katie G. and Charles. The family have a fine residence at 
Bay View, which was erected by Mr. Hemrich in 1892. He has been and is 
distinctively a man of affairs and one who has wielded wide influence. A 
strong mentality, an invincible courage and a most determined individuality 
have so entered into his makeup as to render him a natural leader of men and 
director of things. 

JOHN P. HARTMAN. 

The profession of the law, when clothed with its true dignity, purity 
and strength, must rank first among the callings of man, for law rules the 
universe. The work of the legal profession is to formulate, to harmonize, 
to regulate, to adjust, to administer those rules and principles that underlie 
and permeate all government and society and control the varied relations of 
men. As thus viewed there is attached to the legal profession a nobleness 



422 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

that cannot but be refflected in the Hfe of the true lawyer, who, rising to tlie 
responsibilities of the profession, and honest in the pursuit of his purpose, 
embraces the richness of learning and the purity of morals, together with the 
graces and modesty and the general amenities of life. Of such a type John 
r. Hartman is a representative. He has resided in the Sound country for 
eleven years and during this time has made rapid progress in his chosen 
calling. 

Air. Hartman was born in Fountain county, Indiana, July 3, 1857, and 
comes of a family of German lineage that was established in America two hun- 
dred and fifty years ago, the first representati\'es of the name in this countr)' 
being among the pioneer settlers of the Carolinas. They followed agricultural 
pursuits. George Hartman, the great-grandfather of our subject, and one 
of his brothers were soldiers of the Revolutionary war, serving under Gene- 
ral Francis Marion, the noted "Swamp Fox." They had to live upon acorns 
and sweet potatoes and when visited by a British officer the latter remarked 
that men who lived in such a way could not be defeated. John P. Hartman, 
the grandfather of our subject, was born in Carolina and carried on agricul- 
tural pursuits and in 1822 removed to Indiana, casting in his lot among the 
first settlers of the part of the state in which he located. He secured land 
from the government and had a patent which bore the personal signature of 
President Andrew Jackson. This land is still in the possession of his de- 
scendants. The father of our subject also bore the name of John P. Hart- 
man and was born upon the family homestead in Fountain county, Indiana, 
and reared to farm life, carrying on agricultural pursuits throughout his en- 
tire business career, but at the present time he is living retired. He served in 
ihe Sixty-third Indiana Infantry for two years during the Civil war. He 
then entered the; regular army and was mustered out with the rank of colonel 
in 1865. He joined the anny as a private, but his meritorious conduct and 
}iis valor won him promotion until he became the commander of his regi- 
ment. Fie was with the Army of the Tennessee for two years and afterward 
with General Sedgwick's corps in the Army of the Potomac. He took part 
in most of the engagements with which those divisions of the army were con- 
nected and \vas at the head of the first regiment to enter Richmond. He was' 
never captured or seriously wounded, although he was often in the thickest 
of the fight and had many close calls. On one occasion there were twelve or 
fifteen bullet holes in his clothing and in his. hat. In the year 1873 he went 
to Nebraska, where he took up land and engaged in general farming and 
.stock business for a number of years. Later he sold his property interests 
in that state and removed to Indiana once more. He is a verv active and in- 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 423 

fliiential member of the United Brethren church, serving as one of its officers, 
and liis Hfe has ever been in harmony with its teachings. He was united in 
marriage to Miss Mary Sines, and unto them were born seven children, of 
whom tinxe died in infancy, while only two are yet living, the sister of our 
subject being Mrs. Mary Torger. The mother has also passed away. 

In the public schools of his native state John P. Hariman gained his 
early education, which was afterward continued in the state university of 
Nebra.-;ka. He went to that state with his father in the year 1873. It was 
then a wild district, buffalo ranged over the prairies and Indians were num- 
erous. The land was wild and uncultivated and the work of development 
and progress had scarcely been begun. There were few farms, but over the 
broad prairies were seen large herds of cattle in charge of cow-boys, and Mr. 
Hartman became one of their number. Later he attended the state uni- 
versity and subsequently was connected with the engineering corps of the 
Union Pacific Railroad for a year, but thinking that he would prefer the prac- 
tice of law as a life w^ork he began studying for the profession in Kearney, 
Nebraska, and was admitted to the bar in 1883. He then practiced in that 
place until 1891, when he came to the west, settling first in Tacoma, and in 
J 896 he removed to Seattle. Since his arrival upon the coast he has been 
ver)' successful in the practice of his chosen profession, devoting his time al- 
most exclusively to corporation law. He has a well selected and extensive 
library and is the representative of many of the large firms and business 
houses of this city. He has studied closely and carefully the great questions 
of jurisprudence, and in the handling of his cases demonstrates his superior 
skill and ability. To some extent Mr. Hartman has been engaged in real 
estate dealing and has erected some buildings in the city, both residence and 
business property. He also has farming interests at Kent. He was reared 
upon a farm and has always had a liking for the occupation. His 'invest- 
ments have been judiciously and carefully made and have brought him a 
good financial return. 

On September 16, 1883. Mr. Hartman was married at New Helena, 
Nebraska, to Miss Caroline E. Drvden, the daughter of a Wisconsin pioneer, 
and tlieir children were : Eva, deceased ; Dwight, aged fourteen ; Harold, 
twelve: and Robert, who is five. In his political views Mr. Hartman is a 
stalwart Republican, active in the ranks of the party and has attended county, 
state and national conventions. He is also a campaign worker and has made 
a wide acquaintance among the leaders of the party in this portion of the 
state and elsewhere, but has never sought or desired official preferment for 
Iiimself. He is an active member of the Westminster Presbyterian church, 



424 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

was one of its organizers and is now a member of its session. Nature be- 
stowed upon liim good gifts. He possesses a mind of broad compass, and 
the industry that brings forth every spark of talent with which he has been 
endow_ed. Few lawyers have made a more lasting impression upon the bar 
of the state both for legal ability of a high order and for the individuality of 
the personal character which impresses itself upon the community. 

H. . R. CORSOxN, M. D. 

Since 1888 Dr. H. R. Corson has been a member uf the medical fra- 
ternity of King county, and his ability has enabled him to advance to a 
position among the successful representatives of the profession. He is now 
located in Issaquah, where he is enjoying a large private practice, in addi- 
tion to acting as physician for some important corporations. 

The entire w^idth of the American continent separates Dr. Corson from 
the place of his birth, he being a native of Alton, Elaine, born November 
13. 1848. His parents were V. R. and Angeline (Rand) Corson, both of 
whom were natives of the Pine Tree state. The father, who was born in 
Canaan, Maine, in 1812, was of English descent, while his wife, whose birth 
occurred in Poland, Maine, in 181 8, was of Scotch lineage. A farmer by 
occupation, he followed that pursuit in order to provide for his family, and 
his death occurred in New Brunswick in 1887. His wife had passed away 
some time before, having died in Alton, Maine, in 1868. 

In the public schools of his native town H. R. Corson acquired his pre- 
liminary education, which was supplemented by study in the Maine Central 
Institute in Pittsfield. His choice of a vocation fell upon the medical pro- 
fession and he began preparation for practice as a student in Bowdoin Col- 
lege at Brunswick, Maine. He applied himself closely to the mastery of the 
branches forming the curriculum there and in 1876 was graduated. Well 
equipped for his schosen work, he then opened an office in New Sharon, 
Maine, where he remained for twelve years, constantly broadening his knowl- 
edge by further reading and by practical experience. The possibilities of the 
northwest, however, attracted him, and in 1888 he severed the ties which 
bound him to his native state and made his way across the country to Seattle, 
where he opened an office and practiced for seven years. In 1895 he came to 
Issaquah and since that time has been the physician and surgeon for the 
Issaquah Coal Company, which in its mines employs a large force of men. 
Since 1899 he has also been the surgeon for the Seattle division of the North- 
ern Pacific Railroad Company, and in addition he has a large private prac- 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 425 

tice, which is accorded liini in recooniiidu nf liis thuruugh understanding" of 
the science of medicine and liis accuracy in ajiplying its principles to the 
needs of those to wlioni injurx- or disease !ia\e made the aid of the ])hysician 
or surgeon essential. 

Dr. C"orson was married in .Madis<jn, .Maine, in 1N74, to Aliss E. S. 
I'aine, who was Ijorn in Xorth .\nson, Maine, in 1S53. a daughter of Hiram 
and Marv ( liarton ) Paine, who were early settlers of Xew I'jigland. They 
hecame the parents of four children: The oldest. \\ arren B.. died soon 
after he came to Seattle, aged thirteen; W. 11.. F,\a .May and Kenneth I', 
are all with their parents. In his political \-iews the Doctor is a stalwart Re- 
publican, unswerx'ing in his support of the part}- and its principles and has 
taken an active part in jiromoting its work and success. While in the Pine 
Tree state he was elected to represent Franklin county, Maine, in the general 
assembly, serving in 1886-87. and was school supervisor for about ten years 
in New Sharon. Maine. He has also been prominent as a party worker in 
the west and his fellow townsmen, recognizing his wdrtli and ability, have 
called him to public office here. He was school director for one year aufl 
in 1900 was elected ma_\or of issa(|uah. and re-elected for two years more 
in ig02, ))roving himself a loval citizen 1)\' the promptness i.nd fidelit}' with 
which he ha> discharged the duties of these various positions, h'or almost 
a quarter of ;i century Dr. L'orson has lieen a member of the Masonic fra- 
ternity, having joined tlie order in .Xew Sharon. Maine, in 1878. He was 
one of the organizers of Issaquah Lodge. F. & .\. M.. and he also belongs to 
Seattle Lodge. X(i. 51. K. P. Although he has been a resident of the north- 
west for a comparatively brief period, he is fully imbued with the progres- 
sive spirit which dominates this section of the country and has labored to 
promote the welfare and adv ancement of this localit}-. while at the same time 
giving close attention to the varied and important duties of his profession. 

W. F. ELKHART. 

W. F. Eckhart is the secretary and treasurer of the W'ebster-Eckhart- 
Sims Company, dealers in general merchandise at Enumclaw He posses.ses 
marked enterprise and determination, qualities which would make him an 
active factor and valued representative of the business interests of any pro- 
gressive town. He is a native of Indiana, his birth having occurred in Tip- 
pecanoe county on the 29th of January. 1865. His father. Balser Eckhart. 
was born in Germany in 1837, and when twenty years of ,)ge came to this 
country, locating near Fafavelte. Tijipecanoe county. Indiana, where he has 



426 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

since carried on extensive farming operations. A few years after arriving in 
the United States, he was uni'ted in marriage to Louise Snyder, who was 
born in Wurtemberg. Germany, in 1842, and died at her liome in Inthana on 
the Gtli of June, 1902. 

Under the parental roof \\'. F. Eckharl was reared ard in the puljHc 
schools of Tippecanoe he acquired his preliminary education, \vhich was sup- 
})lemented by study in the Central Normal college at Danville, Indiana, where 
he remained as a student for two years. From 1883 until 1885 he engaged 
m teaching school in Coburn, Indiana, and in the fall of 1886 he went to St. 
Joseph. ^Missouri, where he was engaged in general merchandismg for three 
years, his first venture in this direction. In 1889 he came to Washington, 
attracted by the business possibilities of the rapidly developing northwest. 
For two Aears he was identified with educational work here as a teacher near 
Kent, and for five years he taught at \\'^abash. King couitty. In January, 
1895. he came to Enumclaw, and accepted a position as clerk in the general 
store of Webster & Nickerson, remaining with the house for two years, on 
the expiration of which period the firm was succeeded by Nickerson Brothers, 
Mr. Eckliart remaining as a representative of the new firm until 1901. He 
then became superintendent of the new building of the Webster-Eckhart- 
Sims Company and has since been a member of the firm in a general mercan- 
tile business, holding the position of secretary and treasurer, with Mr. Web- 
ster as president and Mr. Sims as vice-president. 

On the 26th of July, 1890, Mr. Eckhart was happily married to Miss 
May Gray, wdio was born in California, and they now liavi" two interestmg 
children, Louisa and Robert. Theirs is a pleasant home, noted for its hospi- 
tality, which is greatly enjoyed by their many friends. Mr. Eckhart was a 
charter member of Crescent Lodge, F. & A. M., of Enumclaw and served as 
master during the year 1902, and also belongs to the Eastern Star chapter 
of the sasne organization, and to the Independent Order of Red Men. In his 
])olitical affiliations he is a Republican, and while he is strong in his endorse- 
ment of the party, he has no time for public office, nor does he desire poli- 
tical preferment. 

M. HARWOOD YOUNG. 

There is probably no man in Seattle who occupies a more en\ iable posi- 
ii>in in mercantile and financial circles than I\T. Harwood Young, not alone 
on account of the success he has achieved, but also on account of the honor- 
able, straightforward business policy he has ever followed. He possesses untir- 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 427 

ing energy, is quick of perception, foi"nis plans readily and is determined in 
1 iieir execution ; and his close application to business and his excellent man- 
agement have brought to him the high degree of success which is to-day his. 

Mr. Young was born at Groton, Massachusetts, on the 21st of Septem- 
ber, 1846, and is descended from a good old New England family, his grand- 
father Young being a respected resident of Plymouth, New Hampshire, and 
who attained a ripe old age Lemuel D. Young, his son, was born in Ply- 
mouth, as was also his wife, who t^ore the maiden name of Elizabeth Mars- 
ton. He lost his life by accident at the age of forty-three years. By occu- 
pation he was a merchant, and both he and his wife were earnest and consist- 
ent members of the Methodist church, exerting a wide influence for good 
throughout the community in which they lived. The father always took a 
deep interest in his town and count)-, and was very highly esteemed by his 
fellow citizens. His wife, who was a most estimable lady, died in 1865, at 
the age of thirty-nine years. In their family were three sons, namely : Henry 
I)., Edwin and M. Harwood Henry D. was drowned with *he wreck of the 
Portland, in November, 1899, '^t the age of thirty-eight years. Edwin is a 
manufacturer residing in Lowell, Massachusetts. 

It was during the infancy of M. Harwood Young tha!' the family re- 
moved to Manchester, New Hampshire, and seven years later to Laconia, in 
the same state. In 1864 he passed his examinations to Harvard college, but 
the urgent need of the g-overnment for more volunteers to assist in putting 
down relaellion led him to gi\e up the course and he responded to President 
Lincoln's call in August of that year, entering the ranks of the Union army. 
At the beginning of the war he had tried to enlist but was rejected on account 
of his age, being at that time only fifteen years old. He was at length ac- 
cepted as a member of Company I, Eighth New Hampshire Volunteer In- 
fantry, but his regiment ^vas subsequently n.iounted, and accompanied Gene- 
ral Banks on his famous Red river expedition. ^Ir. "^'oung participated in 
nil the engagements in which his company took part. While in Mississippi 
they were sent to l)reak ui> a forage train, and v.-hen making an attack he 
received a severe saber wound across his thigh and came very nearly losing 
liis life, being in the hospital for four months. He then rejoined his regi- 
ment, and for some time before the close of the war he was regimental clerk 
under Lieutenant Colonel Flanders. 

On receiving his discharge from the service Mr. Young returned to his 
old home in the north, and soon afterward accepted a clerkship in a Boston 
wholesale dry goods house. In 1868 he went to St. Louis, Missouri, where 
he and a friend purchased twelve horses, one barouche, three prairie schoon- 



428 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

crs and t\uir light waguns, ami llicn startL-d acruss ilic plains. Ai Lca\cn- 
wortli, Kansas, they secnrcd tiic serxices of three men to assist tiieni nu their 
way to California by way of the Smoky ilill route. While crossing the 
plain.s they learned that the Indians were trouhlesonie and aijjilied to (leneial 
Custer for a detail of soldiers to protect them, hnt the ( Icneral saiil tliere 
would be no trouble, and they proceeded on their way alone, hnt had gone (jnly 
a .short distance when they were attacked hy the red men. who either killed 
or captured all their horses. Going to a watering station our miles away 
Mr. ^'onng and his party secured a gnar<l of soldiers, hut found on their 
return that the Indians had burned all that they could not carry away, leaving 
ihe little -jjarty in a x'ery bad plight. The}' traveled on. howe\er. from sta- 
tion to station until reaching Den\er, C(»lorad(j, and from tliere ])roceeded on 
their journey hy stage and rail, .at length reaching San h'rancisco. While at 
l)en\er. Mr. Voung was taken ill with mountain fe\er. and was ad\iseil by a 
physician to go to the coast if he hoped to reco\er. On rcgaming his health 
be returned to Boston, and not long afterward accepted a position in the 
auditing department of the Bmdington iK: Missoma Rixcr Railroad with head- 
quarters at Burlington, Iowa. 

In 1872 Mr. Young went back to Massachusetts and became cashier fur 
the ]-5oston Manufacturing Company located at W'altham. his empl')\ers be- 
ing the proprietors of the first complete cotton mill erected in that state. He 
continued with them as their cashier ruid confidental man for eighteen years, 
or until 1 S90, diuang which time he was also engaged in active business in 
\Valtham on his own account, being one of the (irganizers of the Walthani 
Co-operatixe Rank and its iirst secrclar\- and treasurer. .\l'ter capalilv hll- 
ing those positions for two years he resigned, as the increasing volume of 
business of the bank demanded more of his time than be could spare, and he 
afterward served as one of its directors. He also assisted in organizing the 
electric light company, of which he was elected a director, and after its con- 
:;olidation with the Walthani ( ias Light Comjjany still continued tn that 
position. ( )n the incorporation of the city of W'altham in iS8_|. he was elect- 
ed a member of its first board of alderman for a term of two years, and so 
satisfactoril}- did he fill the office that he was elected for three xears to the 
sinking fund commission, of which commission he was chairman. 

Visiting Seattle in i8<S9. Mr. \'oung became convinced of its great ))os- 
sibilities for profitalole investments and future growth, and on bis return to 
Waltham severed bis connection with the corporation with which he had 
been for so many years, and at once assisted in the organization of the New 
England-Xorthwestern Inxestmcnt Com]);ui\-. In Jantiary. i8r)o. he located 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 429 

in Seattle as tlie western manager of that company and has since filled that 
position to the entire satisfaction of all concerned. He has had charge of 
the erection of many residences and business blocks and a number of other very 
j)aving investments. For several years he was president of the Union Trunk- 
line, one of the principal street railways of the city, and became a large stock- 
holders in the consolidated roads of Seattle, also a director m the Seattle Elec- 
tric Company and the Puget Sound Electric Company, tlie line connecting 
Seattle and Taconia. He was also vice-president of the gas company for a num- 
ber of vears; is a director of the National Bank of Commerce; and manager 
of the Pacific coast interests of the Planters Compress Company of Boston, 
large manufacturers of presses for baling in round compact i)ales both cotton 
,• nd ha v. Mr. Young has shipped large quantities of hay baled in this way 
111 the Philippine islands and also to Alaska. Among the property of Seattle 
improved by him and his company is Beacon Hill. He is a man of excellent 
business and executive ability, whose sound judgment, unflagging enterprise 
and callable management have brought to him a well merited success. 

Mr. Young was married in 1872 to Miss Josephine Richardson of Bel- 
nmnt. Massachusetts, a daughter of Captain Richard Richardson. Of the 
live' children born of this union the two sons died in infancy. The daughters 
are Edith R., Ethel D. and Josephine. The family have a beautiful home on 
Pjeacon Hill, the culture and artistic taste of its occupants hieing reilected in 
its appointments, while a gracious hospitality adds a charm to its niaterial 
comforts. Thev are connected with the Episcopal church, and Mr. Young is 
ni.so a member of the Masonic fraternity, having been initiated into die mys- 
teries of that order at Revere Lodge. Boston, one of the oldest lodges in that 
state if not in the United Staes. In manner he is pleasant and cordial, which, 
combined with his sterling wurth. makes him one of the most po])ula'' citizens 
I'f his adopted city, 

REV. MICHAEL hWF.VRA. 

Rev. Michael Fafara is a well known representati\e of the Catholic 
priesthood of King county, his home lieing in Enumclaw. He was born in 
Krakow, Austria, on the J5th of September, 1863. Llis parents. Casper 
and Frances F"afara. were born and reared in that country aiul the father has 
always followed the occupation of farming. The mother has now passed 
away, liaving died at her home in her native country in iSijj. Their son. 
Rev. Fafara. was splendidlv educated, first in the gymnasium schools of his 
native town, where he remained as a student for eight ve;n>. and afterward 



430 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

spending four years in the tlieological schools of Rome, Italy. When he had 
completed his preparation for the priesthood he returned to his home, and in 
a few months was appointed hy the propaganda of Rome as a missionary to 
the state of Washington. 

On his arrixal here he spent a month with Bisli<)[) Yunger at Vancouver, 
Washington, and received instruction from him concerning methods of work 
as conducted in this country. He then went to Tacoma, where he arrived in 
.\pril, 1892. remaining at that place for nearly six years, during which time 
lie was chaplain of the St. Joseph Hospital. In 1898 he located at Enuni- 
claw, King county, where he purchased a pleasant cottage home and has 
since had charge of the missions of Enumclaw, Wilkinson. Franklin, Car- 
bonado and Krain. .\t all of these places except Enumclaw he has built new 
churches and in this town he has remodeled the church ed'iice, which was 
already in use at the time of his arrival. This work has requned a great deal 
of patient labor, but through his energy and personal popularity and the co- 
operation of the good people of his missions, he has been able to command 
j-.mple means to place all in a prosperous condition. He visits each one of the 
missions monthly. The total membership of the five missions is seven hun- 
dred, and in his influential position he has added largely to the develo])ment 
of the southern portion of King coutny. 

ISAAC P. CALFIOUN. 

Isaac P. Calhoun is one of the leading representatives oi the lumber in- 
dustry of the northwest. The dense forests of great trees :n this portion of 
ihe country have furnished a wide field of labor for the logger and the lumber 
manufacturer and the business has become one of the most important sources 
of income to the residents of Washington. Isaac P. Calhoun entered this 
field of activity and in the prosecution of his business affai's lias met with 
splendid success and has become one of the recognized leaders in his line. 

Mr. Calhoun was born in La Grange, Stanislaus count)', California, on 
the nth of January, 1858, and has spent his entire life upon the coast. His 
father, Rufus Calhoun, was born in New Brunswick, about 1827, and went 
to the Golden state in 1853, making the trip around Cape Horn in a fishing 
schooner. The family remained at La Grange from that yea.' until 1866 and 
then removed to Port Townsend, which has since been the family home. On 
coming to Port Townsend he built a scliooner there in 1866-67. and on its 
completion he operated it in the service of the merchants for several jears. 
Later he became part owner and was master of several vessels employed in 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 43 1 

the Pugei Sound and I'acilic coast trade, and subsequently he was employed 
bv the hrm of Corbett & Maclay of Portland, Oregon, as master of the Spar- 
rowhawk, running to Australia, China and the Philippines and other oriental 
countries. He was thus engaged for a number of years and finally sold the 
vessel in Australia. For the past twenty years he has been employed as 
master on the Spreckel line of vessels owned in San Francisco and used in the 
sugar-carrying trade between San Francisco and Honolulu. He was united in 
marriage to Sarah Filmore, who was horn in Lowell, ^^lassachusetts, in 1827, 
and is yet living at the family home in Port Townsend. To this worthy 
couple were born five sons and a daughter. 

Isaac P. Calhoun was educated in the schools of Port Townsend, co 
which place he went with his parents when a youth of eight summers. On 
leaving home he became an active factor in the business woild. He went to 
Newcastle on Lake Washington, where he was employed as a clerk in the 
store of the Oregon Improvement Company and continued to fill that posi- 
tion for seven years ; a fact which indicates his fidelity to duty and the con- 
fidence reposed in him by his employers. In May, 1887, he went to Taconia 
and was manager of the store owned by the Tacoma Mill Companj' for about 
two years. For the succeeding six months he occupied a similar position with 
the Seattle Coal & Iron Company at Issaquah. He then received the appoint- 
ment under Charles M. Bradshaw as special deputy collector of customs for 
the Puget Sound district and filled that position for a year. In June, 1S90, 
he went to Black Diamond, Washington, where he entered nito partnership 
•.vith J. M. E. Atkinson under the firm name of Atkinson & Calhoun, being 
there engaged in general merchandising for eleven years. The enterprise 
was attended with a gratifying degree of success and after disposing of his in- 
terests there Mr. Calhoun went to Nome, Alaska. Later he returned to 
Kent, Washington, in October, of the same year, and in company with Joseph 
Kraus, he purchased the sawmill plant of the Sousie Creek Lumber Company. 
This mill has a capacity of twenty-five thousand feet of lumber daily, and the 
demand for its product is greater than can be supplied. This shows a very 
gratifying condition of business affairs and indicates that the firm is enjoying 
a well merited prosperity. 

Mr. Calhoun was married on San Juan island, Washington, September 
18. 1881. to Lexie Firth, who was born at Victoria, British Columbia, in 
1861, and is of Scotch descent. Their union has been blessed with eight chil- 
dren, as follows: Inez, aged twenty years; Fillmore, aged eighteen years; 
Jessie, aged seventeen years; Millard, aged twelve years; Lenora, aged ten 
years: Ruth, aged eight years: Sarah and Lexie. aged respectively six and 



432 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

two years. .Mr. Calhoun ljeloiig.s to the Benevolent and I'rotcctixe Order ot 
l*'lk5 of Seattle, and to the Knights of Pythias lodge at Black Diamond. Ik- 
.Nupported the Repn1)lican i)arty in early life, but when William Jennings 
JSryan first became a candidate for the presidency, he ga\e to him his allegi- 
ance and has since voted the Democratic ticket, luitering upon his business 
career without cajjital. but with a strong determination to succeed and a 
laudable ambition, he has steadily ad\anced in the business world until he 
now has attained an en\iablc standing as a representative (>\ tlu' indusirial 
interests of the nnrthwest. 

DAVID T. DliNXV. 

No inhaljitanl of Seattle has so long resided in the city as Da\id T. 
J)enny. He has witnessed its growth from the beginning ant' more than that 
he has been an acti\e factor in its development and ])rogress. his efforts pr(»\- 
ing of great \aluc in the substantial upbuilding of the beautiful city which he 
aided in founding. Seven additions base been ])latted by him and through 
his business activit_\- he has contributed in the general i)rosperit_\ and im- 
provement. His career has been so insei)arabl\- interwii\en with its history 
tliat to give a detailed account of his wurth wi>nld be to largely compile the 
annals of Seattle. To the pioneer settlers who have bra\ed dangers, hard- 
ships and trials to reclaim wild land for purposes of civilization, wlm lia\e 
sought to carr\' ])rogress intn fmntier regions, a debt of gratitude is due 
•\\hich can ne\er be rejjaid but we can hold in grateful remembrance their 
lives and works, giving them the honor and praise which is their just due. 

More than half a century has passed since David T. Denny came to 
Washington. He is a native of the state of Indiana. hi> birth having oc- 
curred in Putnam county, March 17. 1832. The familx is of Scotch-I-rish 
lineage and is .1 \ery ancient one, representatives of the name emigrating 
from Scotland to Ireland and thence to England. The fir^t to establish a 
home in America were David and Margaret Denny, who .settled in Berks 
county. Pensylvania, and Robert, their sixth child, became the grandfather 
of our subject. He was born in Bei"ks county in 1753 and at a ver\- early 
period in the histt)ry of Kentucky went to that state, being a contemporary 
of Daniel Boone and other famous pioneers of Kentucky who first settled on 
ihe "dark and bloody gnnuid." His children were people of strong religious 
convictions, of i)ronounced anti-slavery i)rinciples and of Christian faith and 
l)ractice. 

John Denny, tlie father of our subject, was born in Mercer county. Ken- 




„^-^»:^e^i^ 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 433 

tiicky. May 4. 1793. and when a Ijuv lie enlisted in a Kentucky regiment to 
j)n)vide for the defense of the frontier against the Indians, who made raids 
against the settlers of Oliio. Indiana and Michigan. He thus tra\ersed those 
states before much settlement had been made and a little later he was a mem- 
ber of Colonel Richard M. Johnsnii's regiment of mounted volunteers, serv- 
ing through the war of 1812. He was also with (Icneral Harrison at tiie 
battle of theriiames when (General Proctor .md the noted Indian chief. Tec- 
uniseh. were killed. John I)eiin\' afterw.nrd married Sail)- Wilson, who was 
burn in (ireenbrier count\'. Virginia. i'"ebruar\- 3. 1797. the wedding taking 
jilace August jj;. 1814. They became pioneer settlers of Indiana, where 
they resided for a number of years, and they w-ent to Knox county, Illinois, in 
1835. The father became a very prominent and influential citizen there and 
for several terms represented his district in the state legislature as a member 
of the \\'liig iiarty. He was an intimate friend of Abraham Lincoln and was 
.tiso well ac(|uainted with other distinguished men of that time. His wife 
(bed in Illinois March Ji. 1841. and ten vears later, ni 1851. Jop.n I )enn\- 
crossed the iilain-- with his sons, Arthur A.. James .\.. Samiiel S.. David T. 
and Allen \\'.. but our subject is now the only survivor. They left their old 
iiome on the loth of .\pril. and were nint_\-se\eii days in making the journey. 
ari\-ing at I'ortland on the 22d of .\ugust. They accomplished the iri]) in 
safety but were almost ambushed by the Indians near the American l-'alls of 
Snake river, ,1 family of the name of Clark lieing entirely wiped out by the 
Indians at that place only a little while after the Dennys had passed there. 

John Denny located in Marion county, Oregon, and became quite active 
in the public afifairs of the new territory. He was a prominent factor in the 
organization of the Republican party and was its first candidate for governor 
in 1858. The following year he came to Seattle, where he departed this life 
July 28, 1875. He was a typical pioneer, of resolute purpose, unfaltering 
courage and with the ability to become a leader in molding public affairs in 
a new locality. He was also a man of high moral character and his influence 
was ever on the side of progress. im])rovement of justice and of the right. 
In his early life he was a member of the ^Methodist church but later joined 
the United Brethren church, and continued one of its most faithful represent- 
atives until his death. In the Denny Genealogy, page 235, the following 
estimate of his character is given : "He was a man of large informa- 
tion and ready wit, served with .\braham Lincoln in the legislature of Ill- 
inois and their friendship and mutual respect continued thrir.igbout life, Mr. 
Denny going from Washington territorv to \isit President iJncoln at the 
time of the Civil war. He lived a faithful Christian and was a man of large 



434 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

influence for good in the community in which he hved. By his first marriage 
he had ten children. After the death of his wife he was married in Illinois 
to Sally Boren, who crossed the plains with him and died in Seattle, leaving 
a daughter, Sarah, who still resides in this city." 

David T. Denny was the seventh son of the family. He acquired his 
education in the public schools of Illinois and was nineteen years of age when 
he accompanied his father to the Pacific coast. He drove a four horse team, 
hauling their provisions. There were fourteen in the family and after they 
crossed the Missouri river they joined a train of twenty-two wagons. Near 
Fort Hall they were fired upon by the Indians, but all escaped unhurt. Had 
their horses been hit and thus disabled, probably everj- one would ha\c been 
massacred. The party suffered from mountain fever but there were no 
deaths. Toward the last of the journey their supply of provisions became 
exhausted, but fortunately they found an emigrant who sold them some. 
Mr. Denny of this review drove the horses across the mountains and after 
remaining at Portland for about a month started for the Sound country, on 
the loth of September, 1851. He drove the stock, accomplishing the entire 
journey on foot to Olympia, which was then a hamlet, containing but three 
small houses. Mr. Denny continued on across the countr}- to the present 
site of Seattle and then wrote to his brother, Arthur A., telling him what he 
had discovered and advising him to come to this region. He realized that 
there was a good shipping point here and hoped that a town might eventually 
spring up. His foresight has been proved by time. Mr. Denny first worked 
at Alki Point, helping to load a ship with piles, cutting the timber at the 
water's edge, for which he was paid seven cents per foot, running measure. 
The country was then full of Indians, but they were friendly. 

In the spring of 1852 Mr. Denny secured a claim of three hundred and 
twenty acres of government land, where the city of Seattle now stands. On 
the ■23d of January, 1853, he was married to Miss Louisa Boren, a sister of 
his brother Arthur's wife. She was born in White county, Illinois, and was 
:•- daughter of a Baptist minister. Her mother belonged to the Latimer fami- 
ly. Mr. Denny built a log house in North Seattle, at the foot of what is 
now Denny way. He lived there less than a year, as the Indians began t() be 
troublesome, and feeling unsafe at that place he rem<)\ed to a new house 
which he built near his brother's on the present site of the Stevens Hotel. In 
the fall of 1855 the Indians, noting the greatly increased emigration to this 
portion of the country, determined to destroy the settlers who were coming 
into what they regarded as their own domain, but some friendly red men 
warned the white pcoiilc of their danger and the)' built a block house, for 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 435 

which Mr. Denny furnished a lot of liewn timljer. Into this the white people 
moved on the morning of the 24th of January, 1856. The Indians came on 
in large numbers and surrounded the settlement. The fight continued from 
nine o'clock in the morning until dark when the savages withdrew. There 
were probabl\- one hundred and fifty white men and the ship of war Decatur 
landed its blue jackets, who shelled the Indians and thus the little settlement 
was saved. A band of the Indians were afterward captured and tried and 
]\rr. Denny acted as the interpreter for he had picked up some knowledge of 
their language, in which he later became quite proficient. 

For a number of years Mr. Denny carried on farming and stock-raismg 
and prospered in this work. When the town began to grow and the land 
accordingly ruse in \alue, he platted portions of his property at different 
times and .thus laid out se\en additions to the city. He was the owner of 
the western sawmill and was also very extensively engaged in real estate 
dealings, but becoming involved in some financial obligations, when the great 
financial panic of 1892-3 came on it was impossible for him to raise money 
and with conduct in harmony with the honorable business methods that he has 
always followed he lost quite heavily, but now he is retrieving considerable 
of his lost possessions through his mining operations. He is one of the 
owners of the Esther gold and silver mines in the Cascade Mountains, which 
assays rich ore. He is also one of the owners of the Gold Creek mine in 
the same locality and is the president of both companies. At smelter test 
the ore has yielded ninety-three dollars to the ton and the prospects seem 
briglit for Mr. Denny to retrieve much of his lost fortune — a consummation 
which his many friends greatly desire. He was at one time connected with 
street railroad interests here. 

Mr. and ^Irs. Denny have had a family of se^•en children, all born in 
Seattle, and five reached mature years, as follows: John B., an attorney of 
A.laska; David T., Jr., who resides on a farm; Victor ^V. S., who is asso- 
ciated with his father in mining operations; Emily J., at home; and Abby 
D., the wife of Edward L. Lindsey. There are also thirteen grandchildren. 
Almost a half century has passed since Mr. and Mrs. Denny started out upon 
life's journey together as man and wife and as the years have passed their 
mutual love and confidence ha\e increased as together they have met the ad- 
versity and prosperity, the sorrows and joys which checker all earthly pil- 
grimages. Mr. Denny antl bis family are most worthy and consistent mem- 
bers of the Methodist church, in the work of which he has taken a very active 
part, and he has twice been a lay delegate from his church to the general con- 
lerence, attending the session in Xew York city and the one in Omaha. He 



436 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

lias taken a very deep interest in everytliing pertaining to the advancement 
it tlie city along- material, social, intellectual and moral lines. He was the 
lirst treasurer of King county, appointed to complete a term made vacant 1)\- 
a resignation, then elected to the office on tlie Republican ticlcel and re-elected 
hy the Democratic party, filling the position for eight years in a manner 
v.hicli reflected credit upon himself and gave satisfaction to his constituents. 
For two terms he was probate judge of the count}- and for twelve years he 
was a school director in division No. i. Me has also Ijeen a member of the 
l)iiard of regents cj| the Territorial I'niversit}- of Regents and was treasurer 
of the same. l-Or a number of years he was an ach'ocate of the Rei)ublican 
])arty but his strong temperance views have led hij-n to ally his strength witli 
the Prohibition ])arty and to do all in his power to promote ■is noble work of 
redeeming men from bondage to the u.se of intoxicants. In i.S^S he became 
a charter member of Good Templars Lodge No. 6. the first organi.^ed in Seat- 
tle. He has ever been fearless in defense of whate\er he believes to be right. 
It requires both uKjral and physical courage to face the conduions of pioneer 
life but this .Mr. Denny did and he bore all the hardships of the frontier. with- 
out complaint. His strong character and resolute manhood also inspired 
others and his efforts contributed in marked degree not only to the material 
development of the city but also to its growth, along those lino which tend to 
the cultivation of the nol)lest n-ianhood. 

GEORCE W. DILLIXG, 

There is need of remarkable confidence and clear foresight in many 
realms of business: it is the men who ha\'e possessed these (|ualities in large 
measure who have amassed fortunes and haxe come to be designated as 
"ca])tains of industrx." The career of Mr. George W. Diiling show-s occa- 
sions when these characteristics were \-aluable to hini. One in jjarlicular. 
when in the midst of the financial depression attendant upon liie prmic of '93. 
when industry was paralyzed, when values were at their lowest ebi). and none 
liad the courage to \enture in the work of upbuilding and develoiiment. at 
this time Mr. Diiling started the pulsing beat of real estate activity and coni- 
numicated his confidence to others until building and in-ii)ro\-ement sot»n re- 
sinned their normal condition. This gentleman has been identified in many 
ether ways with the progress of Seattlt. and a short sketch of his life would 
certainly prove of interest to the readers of this \-olumc. 

When General Lafaxette can-ie to .\nienca to aid in the cause of inde- 
pendence of the Colonies, there acconi])anied him two brothers who l)orc the 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 457 

name of Dilliug, and from tliese early settlers ami patrit)ts have descemled 
tlie later memljers of the family. Thus on the paternal side the family is of 
pure French stock, (jeorge Billing, the father of George \\'.. was the first 
of the family to come west to the state of Illinois, coming through to that 
state from Indiana by wagon. He settled on a farm in Ciiampaign county, 
at a time when there was only one building in the present thriving intellec- 
tual city of Champaign: this was in 1857. He was a prominent citizen of 
the county antl was active in the work of the German Baptist church. He 
died at the age of fifty-se\-en years. His wife, whom he married in Indiana 
was ]\Iargaret Rhodes, who, though born in h'rance, was of (lerman ancestry. 
She was but seven years old when she came with her parents io America, and 
she lived in Baltimore until she was thirteen, when she was brought by her 
parents to Indiana, the trip being made by wagon. They had eleven children, 
;r.id the youngest oi these was George W. 

His birth occurred at Urbana, Champaign county. Illinoi.-,, cm Janu.Lr;,- 
_'5, 1869. After receiving a fair education in the public sciiools and in the 
Decatur Business University, he started out for himself at the age of fourteen 
and for ten years carried on farming on a place of one hundred acres, fie 
'hen mo\ed to Cerrogordo, Illinois, and engaged in the retail shoe business. 
Three years later he sold out and in 1898 came to Seattle, having been called 
here to take charge of the estate of the late John H. Xagle, and he then de- 
cided to make this his permanent home. He engaged in the real estate busi- 
ness, and within two months after his arrival property began moving and 
investments became free and confidence restored. The properties which he 
has had control of have been improved and have increased to such an extent 
that they have been sold four or five times with profit to the seller each time. 
Mr. Dilling has become interested in the genera! real estate business and has 
much business and residence property in the city, having erected a number of 
residences since coming here. 

A Republican in iiolitics. Mr. Dilling has been interested in ihe atlvance- 
nient the ])arty, and served as a member of the county ceniral committee of 
ilacon county, Illinois, for a number of years. He possesses special adapt- 
ability to work in the political field, and was one of the organizers and the 
first president of the Young Men"s Republican Club of Knig county. He 
was also a delegate to the state convention held in Taconia in 1902. In the 
tall of 1902 Mr. Dilling received the nomination for representative of the 
I'orty-fifth district, and was successful in the election which followed in 
Vovember. Mr. Dilling is identified with 1 iilier aft'airs of the city, being one 
"f the directors of the Seattle .\thletic club, lie l)ccame a Mason in Illinois 



438 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

and is ihc high priest of Seattle cliapter No. 3, R. A. ^I. ; iic jjelongs to the 
Seattle Comnianderv No. 2, K. T. ; and Afifi Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., of 
Tacoma. 

JOHN H. NAGLE. 

A half-century in the history of a country in the long established east 
and the much more ancient lands across the Atlantic is almost an inconsider- 
able point of time, a period in which the people and the development of their 
material resources would seem, even to the keen observer, to have made little 
progress ; but how different we find conditions in the new states along the 
Pacific coast, where communities, cities and larger political divisions have 
sprung up with the suddenness of the mushroom but with greater promise of 
permanence and stability. To whom must most credit be given for this 
phenomenal growth and upbuilding, such as all the centuries have never wit- 
nessed ? Surely all the honor is due to those who first came and blazed the 
way for others, who laid the foundations upon which others should build, and 
who assumed the risks and responsibilities, and incidentally the rewards, 
which always fall to the lot of the pioneer. The gentleman of whom we now 
write was one of these early settlers, and came to the vicinity of Seattle in the 
fifties and was very prominent in the subsequent improvement of that pros- 
3)erous city. 

JolVn H. Nagle was the son of German parents and was brought by them 
to this country in 1833, when four years old. The family li\ed in Maryland 
for a few years, then moved to Indiana, where John was reared and received 
his education. He learned the trade of paper making and followed it in Indi- 
ana for some time. In the latter half of the fifties Jie joined a colony of emi- 
grants who were preparing to cross the plains. When he arrived at Seattle 
he decided to locate there, although at that time there was little prophecy of 
the city which was eventually to grow up there, and the inhabitants could 
have been kept in mind by one ])erson. He was a very industrious man and 
cleared and inipro\ed nuich property that is now within the corporate limits 
of the city. He took up a section upon which the high school and the low- 
service reservoir are now 'situated, and when the city began to expand in his 
direction he laid out two additions to the cit)'. The first was platted in 1884 
and the second in 1890. each containing eighty acres. 

Mr. Nagle never took an active part in political matters, but was an 
active worker in church affairs and devoted much time to helping ak)ng the 
cause of religion. He aided in the establishment of several churches in tiiis 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 439 

city, and is reniembcred as a man of uninipeiichable integrity of character 
and a thorough!}- good man. His death occurred when he had passed the 
si.\ty-seventh milestone of hfe's journey, on i^d)ruar\- u, 1896. His mem- 
cn,' will always be revered as one of the founders of the city of Seattle, and 
such a man shoukl receive due consideration in this historical volume. 

CLARENCE D. HILLMAN. 

Clarence D. Hillman is known throughout Seattle and the northwest as 
V promoter and capitalist. The development of business interests has given 
him the first denomination. Men of marked ability and breadth of business 
scope have taken hold of the existing conditions in various towns and local- 
ities and have been the instigators of many enterprises which have developed 
the natural resources of the country and materially promoted its growth and 
development along the line of substantial and lasting improvement. No 
name is better known in connection with real estate transactions in Seattle 
than that of Clarence D. Hillman, nor is there another man in the city or 
county who has been more largely instrumental in platting land, in disposing 
of city lots, or in founding homes than he. With firm belief in his fellow- 
men, with firm faith in the future, he has worked with and for his fellow citi- 
zens, and at the same time has promoted his individual interests until to-day 
he stands among the successful few. having long since left the ranks of the 
many. 

'Sir. Hillman was born in Pontiac, Michigan, August 12, 1870, and is a 
.son of Erastus D. and Adella Hillman, the former a nati^■e of New York 
and the latter of the Wolverine state. The father was engaged in agricul- 
tural pursuits and in the live stock business. His death occurred in 1875 and 
his wife, surviving him for a few years, passed away in 1879. Clarence is 
the eldest of their three living children, the others being Lillie M., and Homer 
L. Only common school privileges were afforded to Clarence D. Hillman, 
but though fortune did not seem to favor him particularly in his youth, his 
was an energy and determination that would brook no obstacles or opposition 
That could lie overcome by honorable and persistent effort. At the age of 
twenty-one he engaged in real estate operations and speculations. In 1896 he 
came to Seattle and here continued in the same business. He had taken note of 
the Inisiness situation here, recognizing that Seattle was destined to become 
the metropolis of the UDrtlnvest. and that its rapid growth offered an excel- 
lent field for the real estate dealer. In 1898. realizing advantages which the 
Green Lake propertv possessed as a resident location and also foreseeing its 



440 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

juturc piissiliiliiies. he began operatiDns there willi liis usual eneiL;) . ami 
iluriuL;- the ])ast Unw years has t;ive!i lu the (Ireeu Lake ilistrict liis undivided 
attention, lu the meantime lie has demonstrated what can he accomplished 
by indefatigable energy intelligently directed, lie has platted and sold land 
which extends almost entirely around the lake. Among the tracts of which 
lie has disposed may be mentioned llillman's school-house addition, Hillman's 
division of the (ireeu Lake addition and Hillman's Lake l-'mnt addition, 
comprising ninety acres. lie also owns the Kilbourne addition, the 
South .Shore addition, the su])pleniental plat of Woodland Lark addi- 
tion, and the Sliusous (S: L\ans additions, coutprisiug se\en thousand lots 
in all. As a result of his enterprise .\lr. llillniau has assisted more than fnur 
ihousaud people to secure homes of tlu'ii- own. selling them ])ro])crty on terms 
that enabled wage earners to become i)ropertv holders. Me has built over 
seven hundred houses, which h.i\e been suld upon easy payments and he has 
vouched for the paxineiu of lumbei' sold to those wishing to build homes, in 
fact he has rendered all assistance possible to people of limited means who 
were deserving, to enable them to secure and pay for homes of their own. He 
deserves great credit for this and many uf the residents of this .section of the 
county eiUertain for him gratitude for what he has done. The Green Lake 
district is one so well known as a residence ])ortion that it needs little com- 
ment here, and its rapid ui)buildiiig is ](roof of the fact that the ]niblic com- 
mends the business judgment which .Mi-. Hillman displayed in ))lacing this 
land on the market. The, last adthtion which he platted. Llillman's Lake 
i'"ront addition, was |)ractically all sold within si.xty clays after it was placed 
upon the market. .\s a result of his (ireen Lake operatior.s he has made 
some three hundred thousand dollars. His elegant modern residence at 
Kenwood, erected in 1900 at a cost of seven thousand doll.nrs. is :\ conspicu- 
ous feature ol the (Ireen Lake landscajie. It occu])ics a commanding posi- 
tion on the lake front with beautiful and spacious grounds slo))ing to the 
waters. In .N'member. ii/)j. he bought three Innidred acres .idjoining Seat- 
tle on the southeast, and has platted and sold (wer twd thousand lots, also 
built o\er three hundred houses and sold them. This new addition is called 
Hillman City addition to the city of Seattle. lie is now birlding a twenty- 
h\'e thoitsand dollar house at Llillman Citw 

Tn Michigan, in .\ugust. iSf)^. .\lr. llilhuan was united in marriage 
to Bessie (). Kenuey of Toledo. ( )hi(i. Three children have blessed this 
union, Warren II.. who died in infancy, and Clarence D., who is a son of 
whom the parents have every reason to be ])rond ; he won the first prize in 
the Tolerlo baby show in lyoo. The) also ha\e a daughter. Bessie O. K. 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 44 1 

Hillniaii. Fraternally Mr. Hiliiiiau is cuimecled with the Masonic order and 
with the Woodmen of the World, and both he and his wife hold membership 
in Palm Circle. The wise system of industrial economics which has been 
brought to bear in the development of the property which is placed upon the 
market has challenged uniform admiration, for while there has been steady 
advancement in material lines there has been the entire absence of the inflation 
of values, that erratic "boom" which in the past proved eventually the death 
knell to many towns of the west. Mr. Hillman has certainly contributed 
much to the healthful growth and advancement of the city of Seattle and he 
stands to-day a Splendid example of what can be accomplished by untiring- 
energy and perseverance. He commenced life with no capital, Ijut nljstacles 
and difficulties' in his path seemed to serve as an impetus for renew?ed effort. 
1 le has been unflagging in his work and undaunted in the accomplishment of 
his purposes. His labors, too, have been of a character that commands re- 
spect and admiration because they have proved of marked benefit to his fel- 
low men as well as to himself. 

JAMES BOTHWELL. 

Among the representative business men of Seattle none are more deserv- 
ing of representation in this voknne than James Bothwell, who is now success- 
fully engaged in the mortgage, loan, fire insurance business, and care of prop- 
erty and estates in that city. He has n>ade his home here since 1883, and is 
prominently identified with its growth and upbuilding. A native of Illinois, 
Mr. Botliwell was born in Clay county, on the 23d of April, 1858. His pa- 
ternal grandfather, James Bothwell, Sr., was born near Pittsburg, Pennsyl- 
^■ania, and at an early day removed to Ohio, where he followed farming 
throughout the remainder of his life. He married Charlotte Potter, whose 
father served as a soldier in the Revolutionary war. James K. Bothwell, 
ilie father of 1 mr subject, was born in Ohio in 1818, and about 1840 went to 
Illinois, settling in Clay county, where he carried on business as a merchant 
lor a half century. When he located there, there was no railroad through 
that section of the state and he had but little money with which to embark in 
liusiness. He sold goods in exchange for farm products and hogs, which he 
shipijed down the Mississippi river to New Orleans. Although he became 
one of the leading and influential citizens of his community, he could never be 
prevaileil ujjou to accq)t public office, the only public position he would hold 
lieing that of school director. He was held in the highest regard by young 
and old, rich and poor, and his death was widely and deeply mourned. He 

28 



442 REPRESEiNTATlVE CITIZENS OF 

passed away in 1899, at the age of eighty-one years, five months and two days. 
His wife, who bore the maiden name of Mary A. Brissenden, was a daughter 
of John Brissenden, who came to this country from England. 

The primary education of James Bothwell was acquired in the pubhc 
pchools near his boyhood home, and he later attended Kemper's family school 
at Booneville and higher institutions of learning ajt Champaign, Illinois. 
After leaving school he was employed in the First National Bank of Flora, 
Illinois, for three or four years, and at the end of that time went to Boulder, 
Colorado, being offered the position of teller in the National State Bank at 
that place. Later he decided to cast his lot with the people of Seattle, but 
on his arrival here in 1883 he found business in a very depressed condition. 
Realizing the advantages of this section, howe\er, he resolved to remain, and 
at once secured a position in a furniture store, of which he was made manager 
a year later, it being the property of the Hall & Paulson Furniture Company, 
and afterward of F. A. Chadbounie & Company. After two years' connec- 
tion with that establishment he was offered the position of teller in the Puget 
Sound National Bank by Mr. Furth, and as he was more familiar with that 
line of work he accepted it. He had come to Washington on account of ill 
health and the work of the baiik soon proved too hea\ y for him. owing to the 
rapidly growing business, so that he was finally obliged to resign his posi- 
tion just as the prospects there seemed brightest, being unable to stand the 
close confinement. 

Upon the organization of the Holmes Fire Insurance Company, Mr. 
Bothwell was asked to take the position of secretary, which he did and re- 
mained with them a year and a half. Desiring to be more. independent, he 
then embarked in business on his own account in his present I'ue as a financial 
agent. Owing to the general depression in business at that time, many com- 
panies and individuals who had made loans on property had to take the same 
to protect their loans, and it was in the settling up of such loans and the dis- 
posing of the property that he has since been mainly engag-ed. His comiec- 
tion with banks and his well known honesty and reliability have caused large 
numbers of these properties to be placed in his hands for settlement, and the 
attention he devotes to it, looking to the ultimate interests of his clients, gives 
him a large clientage not only among the citizens here but among eastern 
people and corporations. This necessitates a trip to the principal cities of 
the east about ever}- other year, and in 1900 he extended it to Europe. Mr. 
Bothwell has now been in this business for fourteen years and has met with 
remarkable success. For eight years he has also been interestetl in the fire 
insurance business, and now represents the National Fire Insurance Com- 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 443 

pany of Hartford, Connecticut. He also acts as agent for eastern life in- 
surance companies and individuals, as well as local parties, in making mort- 
gage loans, and is a stockholder in one of the leading national banks of 
Seattle, of which he was a director for a time. By untiring industry and 
sound business judgment he has won a merited success in all his undertak- 
ings, and is in all respects worthy of the high regard in which lie is uni- 
formly held. 

On Thanksgiving- day in 1888 Mr. Bothwell was united in marriage 
to Miss Jklinnie C. Thorndyke, a daughter of Captain Eben Thorndyke, 
of South Thomaston, Maine, who was a sea captain and navigator of great 
experience and a man of splendid business ability as well. Our subject at- 
tends the Plymouth Congregational church, of which his wife is a member, 
and they are interested in charitable organizations. Mr. Bothwell is a worthy 
member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and the Masonic fra- 
ternity, in which he has risen to the thirty-second degree, being a member 
of Lawson Consistory No. i, and Afifi Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Ta- 
coma. He also belongs to the Seattle Athletic Club and is a trustee of the 
Economic Club, which has been instrumental in securing some of the lead- 
ing professors from eastern colleges to deliver lectures here. By his ballot he 
supports the men and measures of the Republican party, but has never cared 
for office, preferring to give his attention to his business affairs. He has ac- 
cumulated property since coming to Seattle, and is accounted one of the 
most reliable, energetic and successful business men of his adopted city, as 
well as one of its most popular citizens. 

PHILH' L. RUNKEL. 

Philip L. Runkel is engaged in the groceiy business at 707 Seventh 
avenue and is the vice president of the Alaska Fisheries Union and has built 
up a splendid trade in this city. He occupies a store building with a front- 
age of forty-eight feet on Seventh avenue and gives employment to seven 
men. He has been a resident of the city since the fall of 1889 and has there- 
fore been closely associated with the new Seattle which rose from the ashes 
of the old city, after its destruction by fire thirteen years ago. 

Mr. Runkel was born at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, May 25, 1857. His 
father, Henry Runkel, was born in Gunderblum in the Rhine province of 
Germany, Julv 9, 1824. and is still living. He was a contractor and builder 
in Milwaukee for some years and later conducted a brewery, but for the 
past ten years he has lived retired. He came to America in 1842. being one 



444 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

of the first settlers of Milwaukee, taking up his ahotle there when the place 
was hut a village, containing a few log huildings. He served as county 
treasurer of Juneau county, and allhougli a Democrat he was en- 
dorsed hy the Repuhlicans as well as the niemhers of his own party, a fact 
which indicates his standing in the city and the regard and confidence reposed 
in him. He took a great interest in puhlic affairs and always co-operated 
in any movement which he believed wmild cnntrilnite ti> llie general good.' 
He was married in Milwaukee to Maria Schaetzel, who was also a native 
of (jerman\ and horn in the same province as her husband. They became 
the parents of eight children, of whom two sons and three daughters are 
yet living. Two of the number died in infancy and a brother passed away 
at the age of twenty-nine years. 

Philip L. Runkel entered the public scIilhjIs at the usual age and con- 
tinued his studies tliere until he was fourteen years of age, after which he 
assisted his father until he had attained his majority. Then he started out 
in life on his (jwn account and accepted a clerkship in a wholesale and re- 
tail grocery store at Sioux Falls, South Dakota. He ren^ained with one 
firm for three years, after which he remo\ed to Salem, South Dakota, and 
established a store of his own in connection with 1,. \'. Snyder. They 
opened a gaieral mercantile establishment and Mr. Runkel remained in 
Salem from the spring of 1882 until the fall of 1889, when lie sold out in 
order to go to the coast. He had conducted an extensive wholesale trade, 
also (lid a retail business to some extent, and his large sales annually re- 
turned to him an excellent income. He was elected on the Democratic ticket 
to the legislature of Dakota in 1885. He was attracted to the west by the 
business possibilities of the Pacific coast. His wife's people had previously 
come to this section of the country and in the fall of 1889 Mr. Runkel 
brought his family to Seattle, where he embarked in business in connection 
with his brother-in-law, Louis Gilbert. This relation was maintained for 
a year, and since 1891, when Mr. Runkel bought out Mr. (iilbert's inter- 
est in the grocery store on Seventh avenue, his trade has constantly in- 
creased until he now occupies two large store rooms at No. 707-709. His 
])atronage is steadily increasing and his trade is now very profitable. A 
man of resourceful business ability, he has enlarged the scope of his labors, 
extending his efforts into other fields. He is likewise interested in real 
estate here, owning different tracts in the city, some of it improved, while 
some is vacant property. In 1901 he erected his residence at 303 Broadway. 
In connection with othei" interests he is the vice president of the Alaska 
l-'isheries Union, in which he is a large stockholder. A man of keen dis- 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 445 

ccnimeiit, of souikI judgment and marked sagacit\- in business affairs, he 
has carried forward iiis undertakings in a way that has gained a high 
measure of success, and at the same time liis course has been one which would 
bear the ck)sest investigation, and his methods are so honorable that they 
are well worthy of emulation. 

In Sioux Falls, South Dakota, on the ist of June, i8<S2, was celebrated 
tiic marriage of Mr. Runkel and Miss Maria A. Gilbert, a daughter of Her- 
man Gilbert. Their union has been blessed with one son, Henry G. In 
politics Mr. Runkel affiliates with the Democratic party and taken quite 
an active interest in local affairs. Although urged to accept the nomination 
of mayor, he declined. Two years ago, however, he was nominated by 
acclamation, for the office of city treasurer without his knowledge or con- 
sent. After several days' consideration he accepted the nomination, al- 
though he realized that the party had no chance of electing its men. While 
not successful, he ran far ahead of his ticket, a fact that indicates he is per- 
sonally popular and has the unqualified regard of many of ihe adherents of 
the opposition party. Prominent in the fraternal circles of the city, he has 
attained the Knight Templar degree in Masonry and he is also a member 
bf the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. There is no exciting or sen- 
sational chapter in his life history, for he has pursued the even tenor of his 
way, looking for advancement in the business world to energy, perseverance 
and diligence rather than to fortunate circumstances. Thus he has worked 
Iiis way steadily upward until he is now well known as a successful mer- 
chant of his adopted city. 

DILLIS B. WARD. 

Forty-one years have passed since Dillis Burgess Ward came to Wash- 
ington. This state was then a wild district, its land unclaimed, its re- 
sources undeveloped. A few courageous frontiersmen had dared to locate 
within its borders, but the work of progress and improvement remained to 
the future and there was little promise of early development. In the years 
which have since passed Mr. Ward has not only witnessed a wonderful trans- 
formation but has largely aided in the labors which have resulted in the up- 
building of this great commonwealth. He has been particularly active in the 
work of progress in Seattle, his business afifairs contributing to the general 
prosperity as well as to his individual success. 

Mr. Ward is a native of Kentucky, his birth having occurred in Ohio 
onunty, on the 30th of June, 1838. T he family is of English and Irish line- 



446 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

age and was early founded in Maryland, where the grandfallier of our sub- 
ject was born. He removed to Kentucky in 1798, only six years after the ad- 
mission of that state to the Union. There he improved a large farm and 
reared his family of eight sons and two daughters. He attained to an ad- 
vanced age and was an important factor in the pioneer development of the 
state. The father of our subject, Jesse Ward, was born in ^Maryland in 
1797, and was therefore but one year of age when his parents removed to 
Kentucky, where he was reared to manhood and married Miss Elizabeth Ford, 
l)y whom lie had three children. After her death he wedded Miss Elizabeth 
Railey. a native of Kentucky, who became the mother of our subjct. When 
only eighteen years of age Jesse Ward volunteered for service in the war of 
1812 and fought under General Jackson in the battle of New Orleans. After 
the cessation of hostilities he engaged in trading, in the winter constructnig 
flatboats, which in the spring he loaded with pork and tobacco and floated 
down the Mississippi river to the Crescent city. He would then sell his pro- 
duce and boat in New Orleans and return to his Kentucky home. He made 
a trip each season for eighteen years, sometimes making the return trip on 
foot — a long and hard trip. After he abandoned that pursuit Mr. Ward 
turned his attention to farming, which vocation occupied his attentioir 
throughout the remainder of his business career. For eight or ten years he 
filled the position of constable of his district, an office similar to that of sheriff 
now. Eventually he removed to the Indian purchase in Kentucky and after 
two years went to Arkansas, where he remained for seven years. He had 
married a third time and on the 29th of March, 1853. he started with his wife 
;md nine children across the plains to Oregon, locating near Salem, arriving 
at his destination about the ist of October. 

The subject of this review was then about fifteen years of age. His 
father had given him a saddle horse and he was in the saddle throughout the 
entire journey, assisting in driving the stock which made quite an extensive 
herd. He had a lx)y's keen delight and interest in everything that transpired 
and vividly remembers the incidents of the long trip. After they had pro- 
ceeded on thir journey several hundred miles they passed the only United 
.States fort on the western plains that they saw on the trip. Some little dis- 
tance before reaching the fort they noticed Indians and the night before go- 
ing into camp they were met by a detachment of six United States soldiers 
who informed them of the proxiiuity of the fort and advised them not to 
• camp where they were but escorted them to the fort. Several thousand In- 
dians were there and w^ere holding a council, and the soldiers thought it un- 
safe for the travelers to remain any ways distant from the protection of the 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 447 

army guns. They also told them not to turn their cattle out, but to corral them, 
fastening them to the wagons, the fort furnishing them with hay. This was 
(lone to keep them from the Indians. The emigrants remained at the fort 
until the red men had gone and then moved on as before. They crossed the 
North Platte river when it was a raging torrent. Securing a rope they man- 
aged to fasten it across the stream and then fastened two of their wagons on 
boxes together, in which they ferried their provisions and outfit across and 
swam their stock. Just previous to this time they had come across a party of 
Indians who had been on the war path against the Crow tiibe. They had 
secured a number of scalps, which were tied to the bridles of their horses. 
The chief made them a speech, interpreted by a renegade white man who was 
with the Indians. He said they had made a treaty with the government 
which they displayed. From this the emigrants concluded that they were 
nil right and started on, going down the side of the butte. At this the Indians 
became very hilarious, shouting and waving their blankets. It seemed to be 
their intentiton to stampede the cattle and teams. As they got to the foot 
of the butte three hundred warriors were drawn up in line in front of the emi- 
grants. The latter had with them a buffalo calf which they had captured 
and which one of the cows had adopted and fed. The Indians, however, 
claimed it and took it out and killed it. They then demanded pork and 
flour, saying they needed food. As there \\ere but twenty well armed men 
in the company they decided to divide with the Indians who outnumbered 
them so greatly and when this was done they were permitted to pass on. The 
Indians, howe^•er, saw a young white woman with red hair in the company 
and another bright young woman, driving a ]:iair of mules, and fancied and 
wanted the young ladies. The emigrants put the two girls in a covered wagon 
out of sight and said they would shoot the first Indian who molested them and 
they were let alone. In such ways the party were annoyed at various times. 
Other hardships and difficulties had to be encountered and they had much 
trouble in crossing the streams. Later they lost many of their cattle from 
drinking alkali water and on the Snake river their stock was all stampeded. 
They were amid hostile Indians, far from civilization and without means of 
going forward. The outlook was indeed a ver}' dark and dreary one, but 
after getting breakfast the following morning they saw one of their horses 
returning, which gave them hope, and a number of the men then went on the 
trail and succeeded in recovering considerable of their stock with which to 
proceed. Mr. Ward's father, however, was obliged to leave one of his 
wagons with its load. The family made their way into Oregon and located 
on a farm, where the father continued to reside throughout his remaining 



448 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

(lays with tlie exception of a year spent in Seattle. He was a devout Chris- 
tian man, a minister of the Alethodist Episcopal church, and t!ied in that faith 
at the age of seventy-six years. His third wife had five children by a former 
husband and of the nine children Mr. Ward, a step brother and siep sister 
are all that sursivc. 

The subject of this review continued his education, begun in the east, 
by study in Salem, Oregon. He also assisted in the arduous task of develop- 
ing the new farm and cultivating its fields. For twenty-two years he «i- 
gaged in teaching in the territory of Washington and left the impress of his 
individuality upon the intellectual development of the communities with 
wliich he w-as connected. He was a most capable instructor, inspiring his 
pupils with the zeal and interest which he had in the work. I'or a time 
lie had charge of an industrial school for Indian boys and girls at the Sko-ko- 
mish Indian reservation. He also became connected with journalistic work 
in the west and for two years was manager of the old Post, afterwards con- 
solidated witli tlie Intelligencer, now the Post-Intelligencer, published in Seat- 
tle. Since 1880 he lias engaged in deahng in real estate and in mining brok- 
erage business, with an office in the New York block, and m this line he is 
meeting with w-ell deserved success, ha\ing an extensive clientage. He 
ser\'ed his state as emigration agent for five and a half years, his term end- 
ing on the 1st of April, 1901. In tliis regard he rendered valuable service. 

On the 24th of September, 1863, Mr. Ward was united in marriage to 
Miss Sarah Isabella Byles, a daughter of the Rev. Charles Byles, a Cumber- 
land Presbyterian minister, who crossed the plains from Kentucky in 1853. 
Mr. and Mrs. Ward ha\e six children, five daughters and a son. Sarah Eli- 
zabeth, the eldest daughter, is tlie wife of Professor Edmond. of the state 
university; Kate W. is the wife of James S. Bushnell, formerly of Pough- 
keepsie. New York ; Maud W. married W. A. Dickey, a graduate of Prince- 
ton College, formerly a resident of Manchester, New Hampshire; Agnes W. 
married Karl V. Lively, of Portland, Oregon; and Mable, whose husband is 
Charles A. Penington, of Seattle. The son is C. C. Ward, a civil engineer of 
note, who is now in charge of the construction of the Wep.atclicc high line 
irrigation ditch. 

For years Mr. Ward has been a strong tempei'ance man b\- precept and 
example, laboring to promote the cause. For thirty-four years he has been a 
member of the Good Templar's society and has served in all the ofiiices of 
the order from the lowest to die highest in his jurisdiction. He also has 
membership relations with the Ancient Order of United Workmen and has 
filled all the official jiositions in subordinate lodge in that fraternity. Through 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 449 

a lung- period he has been an acceptaljle member of the Methodist Protestant 
clmrcli and his influence has ever been on the side of the right, the true and 
the beautiful. Since attaining his majority he has given his pohtical support 
to the Repubhcan party, has been an active worker in its ranks and his influ- 
ence and labors have proven a potent element in its advancen-.ent m this state. 
He was honored with an election to the general assembly and during his 
term supported all legislation which he believed would redound to the good 
of the commonwealth. Thus along political, educational, moral and lousi- 
ness lines he has contributed to the upbuilding of the state. He came to this 
citv when it contained but eleven families and from that time forward has 
put forth every efl'ort in his power for its advancement, rejoicing in its 
growth and aiding in shaping its policy along those lines which bring the 
greatest good to the greatest number. High on the rolls of honored pioneers 
is his name inscribed, and the pages of Seattle's history are adorned with the 
record of his work. 

JOHN L. ANDERSON. 

Captain John L. Anderson is the owner of the steamers Xanthus, Cyrene 
and Elsinore. plying on Lake Washington, and has beai connected with 
navigation in the northwest for a number of years. For fifteen years he has 
made his home in Seattle. A native of Sweden, he was born in Gutten- 
berg, November ii, 1868. His father, A. Jacobson, was a seafaring man 
throughout his entire life, being connected with the merchant marine ser- 
vice, in which capacity he visited almost every port of the world. His record 
on the water was a remarkable one, for although he was only fifty-two years 
of age at the time of his death, he had spent forty years on the high seas. 
His wife still survives him and is yet living at the old home in Sweden. 
In their family were four children : John L. ; Albert, who is engaged in 
halibut fishing on the Pacific coast ; Adolph, who is upon one of his brother's 
boats; and Clara, who makes her home with Captain Anderson. The Cap- 
tain is a self-made man and when only fourteen years of age began to earn 
his own living. He had, while attending school, picked up many a stray 
dollar in various ways, but from the age of fourteen he depended entirely 
upon his invn resources. At that time he became connected with the coast 
trade and after two years spent in that way crossed the Atlantic on a sail- 
ing vessel. On his second trip he contracted smallpox and was left in the 
hospital at Quebec, the boat returning without him. Af<er his recovery 
he wait to the west and was with a contractor in Canada for a few ni<inths. 



450 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

At that time he was unknown and could not speak the English language. 
He found it a pretty difficult situation, but he readily picked up a knowledge 
of the American tongue and thus found it easier to obtain employment. 
He spent some months in a hotel, after which he secured work as a painter 
on the Canadian & Pacific Railroad. Soon afterward he was given charge 
of a gang of men, but owing to his youth and his foreign nationality, his 
position was made a very unpleasant one to him by the men who served 
under him, and he at once gave up his position ; but his capability and fidel- 
ity had so pleased the superintendent that he was given a pass to the coast 
and a letter of recommendation, which he still retains. 

In 1S87 Captain Anderson came across the country to Seattle and with 
liie exception of a few months spent at ^Vhatcom he has since made his home 
in this city. He first worked in a mill here and afterward followed various 
pursuits which would yield to him an honest living, but soon obtained a posi- 
tion on a boat, for he had a liking for the sea. After being employed on a 
tug for a time he secured employment on boats running between San Fran- 
cisco, Portland, Seattle and Alaska. He afterward secured a position on a 
Lake Washington boat and soon after was given charge of the C. C. Calkins, 
a new boat then being built for lake trips. He was in command of that 
for three years and then became interested in the Winifred, a new. boat, in 
which he purchased a half interest. This he operated in the line to New- 
castle and found that his business was proving a profitable one. After run- 
ning this boat for two years it was destroyed by fire, and Captain Ander- 
.son then chartered the Quickstep, which he afterward purchased. He next 
built the Lady of the Lake, which he afterward sold. He* for a time was 
in charge of a boat at Whatcom, but returned to Seattle and again engaged 
in business on the lake. He has bought and sold several boats and is now 
operating the eleventh. He has transferred more boats from the sound to 
Lake ^^'ashington bj- way of the river, and from the lake to the sound, than 
any other man. This work demands extreme care and a great amount of 
labor, but he has beai extremely successful in this undertaking. Captain 
Anderson built the Acme,, and of all the diiiferent boats he has sold, this 
is the only one still used on the lake. He has purchased boats at Tacoma 
and I^allard and put them on the lake in addition to those lie has built. He 
purchased the City of Renton, which he ran on the lake for some time and 
in 1901 he bought the Cyrene and in the high water of the following year 
he brought it from the .sound to the lake, at which time he sold the City 
of Renton. In 1901 he purchased the Inland Flyer at Portland, but soon 
afterward sold his interest in that vessel. In August. TqoT. he became the 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 45' 

owner of the Elsinore, and ran that on the sound to Port Orchard points 
until the winter, when he also brought it to Lake Washington, and in the 
fall of 1902 purchased the Xanthus and also brought her to the lake. He 
now operates the Xanthus, the Cyraie and the Elsinore. irle has been on 
the lake so long that he has gained a most enviable reputation as one of 
the most skillful and capable sailors. He now has a plan for building a 
fine excursion steamer for the lake. Li all the years in which he has com- 
manded vessels he has never had a man hurt either in building or operating 
his boats, and his honesty is proverbial, while his genial nature and social 
disposition have made him popular at all points at which he stops. To some 
extent the Captain has been interested in real estate, and in 1895 he erected 
his present residence, overlooking the lake at the end of the Yesler cable line. 
In 1895 Captain Anderson was united in marriage to Emilie Matson, a 
(laughter of Charles Matson, a machinist of this city. She is a native of 
.Meriden, Illinois, and has been a resident of this locality since 1884. Fra- 
ternally tlie Captain is connected with the Knights of Pythias, and in politics 
is a Republican. In October, 1901, he made a trip to his old home in Sweden, 
and spent nearly five months abroad, visiting England, France, Norway, 
Sweden and Germany. He went as a passenger on the ship Kaiser Wilhelm 
Der Grosse, and returned n the American liner St. Paul, and while he greatly 
enjoyed the trip and his visit to the home of his boyhood, he could never 
he content to live elsewhere than in the land of the free — the home of his 
adoption. 

CHARLES OSNER. 

King county figures as one of the most attractive, progressive and pros- 
perous divisions of the state of Washington, justly claiming a high order 
of citizenship and a spirit of enterprise which is certain to secure develop- 
ment and advancement in the material upbuilding of the section. The county 
has been and is signally favored in the class of men who have controlled its 
affairs, have promoted its business interests and thereby contributed to its 
l)n«perity, and in this connection the subject of this review deserves rep- 
resentation. The growth of any community, town or city depends upon its 
commercial activity and its industrial interests, and therefore the real up- 
huilders of a town are those who stand at the head of its leading enterprises. 
Air. Osner is actively connected with real estate dealing, both on his own 
account and as a broker, and his labors have been effective in promoting the 
growth and attractive appearance of Seattle, to which he has laid out two 
additions. 



452 REPRESENTATIVE CTflZENS OF 

Although born in Germany, Mr. Osner is of American parentage. His 
father, t'erdinand Osner, was an importer and wholesale leather dealer of 
Thiladelphia. hut was abroad at the time of Charles's birth, which fKcurred 
in Baden on the JOth of January, 1858. In Philadelphia Charles Osner 
acquired his early education and then returned to Germany to continue his 
studies. On putting aside his text books he became associated with his fa- 
ther in the leatlier business and so continued until twenty-one years of age. 
when he started out upon an independent business career as a leather broker 
in Chicago, which pursuit he followed for ten years. Believing that there 
were better business opportunities on the Pacific coast, in 1888 he came west, 
and for a year was a representative of the Gambrims Brewery of Pt)rtland. 
Oregon. Visiting Seattle, he became convinced that this was to become the 
leading city of the northwest and determined to make it the base of his 
future business operations. Accordingly in 1890 he made a ])ermanent loca- 
tion here, and time has proved the wisdom of his decision. For the first 
year he was the Seattle representative of the Portland Company, after which 
he engaged in the hotel business, but in 1898 he retired from that and be- 
came a member of the real estate and investment firm nf (In ill. Damns & 
Osner. Following the financial panic which swept over the country in 1893 
Seattle suffered considerable depression, but Mr. Osner maintained firm 
faith in its future, made the best of his opportunities during" the dark period 
and in course of time saw Seattle emerge into a new growth, which has made 
it the leading metropolitan center of the northwest. In January, 1902, in con- 
nection with Mr. Damns, he purchased Mr. Groll's interest in the firm, and 
under the style of Damns & Osner business is now carried on. \\'hile they 
do some fire insurance business, representing the Philadelphia Underwrit- 
ers, the business is mainly the buying and selling of real estate, which they 
carry on on their own account, also acting as brokers. They also super- 
inttnd the negotiation of loans and investments and now have a large client- 
age in their line, for both gentlemen are known as reliable and trustworthy 
business men of large knowledge concerning realty values. Mr. Osner has 
erected some residences in Seattle and has also laid out two additions on 
Green lake, one inside the city limits and the other just outside the corpora- 
tion confines. .Sixty acres have been divided into city lots and he also 
holds another sixty acres within the city limits which has not yet been sub- 
divided. 

While at Portland Mr. (3sner was united in marriage to Miss Bielen- 
berg, whose father is now living retired here, and in 1898 erected his resi- 
dence at 326 Bellcxue avenue, where they have a pleasant home in what 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 453 

is known as the Broadway district. In his poHtical affihations Mr. Osner 
is independent, although he usually votes the Democratic ticket. He does 
not consider himself bound by party ties and is a man of indqjendent spirit, 
self-reliant and always outspoken in defense of his honest convictions. He 
belongs to the chamber of commerce and is a member of several fraternal 
organizations, and he withholds his co-operation from no mo\'ement or meas- 
ure calculated to advance the general welfare. To him there has come the 
attainment of a disting"uished position in connection with the material in- 
dustries of the state, and his efforts have been so discerningly directed along 
well defined lines of labor that he seems to have realized at any one point 
of progress the full measure of his possibilities for accomplishment at that 
point. 

AXEL H. SOELBERG. 

Some historians have gone so far as to believe that the physical aspect 
and character of a country are primary causes in determining the nature of 
its inhabitants, and although this cannot be proved in its entirety, no one 
will dispute the fact that climate and environment exert much mfluence upon 
the temperament of people. This can be stated with certainty of the land 
of Norway, whose stern, rocky, rug'ged shores have been the nurturing- place 
of men who in all ages have found their delight in the fiercest of the con- 
flicts against the elements and the less material but real difficulties of life. 
^Vhile these influences may have had no ajjpreciable effect on the firm and 
upright character of Mr. Soelberg. he is proud to claim that northern coun- 
try as his birthplace and ascribe to its hardy soil much that has made for his 
success in life. 

He was born in Norway on Alarch 2, 1869, and spent the iirst nineteen 
years of his life there, recei\ing a good education meanwhile and preparing 
himself for the future. The stories of the wonders and the prosperity to 
be enjoyed in the United States had often come to his ears, and in 1888 he 
came to this country. He located in Minneapolis and found his first em- 
plojinent in a sash and door factory. But four years later he came to 
Seattle. Some of his friends were interested in the establishment of the 
Scandinavian-American Bank, and when it was opened he obtained the posi- 
tion of bookkeeper. After holding- this place for two years he was chosen 
cashier, and in May, 1902, was elected vice president, which position ht 
now fills and is very active in making this one of the foremost financial in- 
stitutions in the city; he is also a director in the bank. He is also connected 



454 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

with other interests in the city and liolds various ptjsitions; among these 
he is secretary of the Seattle Clearing House. But he devotes most of his 
time and attention to the business of the bank. 

.VI r. Soelberg has found the Republican party representative of his politi- 
cal views, and he has been honored with being chosen as delegate to the coun- 
ty conventions. He holds membership in the Ancient Order of United 
Workmen and the Knights of Pythias, of which he is past chancellor. He 
belongs to the Lutheran church. For recreation during his vacation he 
made two trips to Alaska, and thus added to his fund of knowledge con- 
cerning the world. Mr. Soelberg was married in January, 1898, to Miss 
Olga Wickstrom, wdio is the daughter of one of Seattle's pioneers, Peter 
Wickstrom. They have one daughter, Adene. They are now living in 
their fine new residence, which was erected during the past year. It is situated 
on Capitol Hill, and has a charming location at the corner of Thirteenth 
avenue and Aloha street. 

FRANK HANFORD. 

Almost fifty years have elapsed since this gentleman arrived in Seiittle 
.uid he is justly numbered among her honored pioneers and leading citizens. 
He has been prominently identified with her business interests, and is to-day 
a member of the well-known insurance firm of Watson, Hanford & Com- 
pany. Not alone is there particular interest attaching to his career as one of 
the earliest settlers of this state, but in reviewing his genealogical record we 
find his lineage tracing back to the colonial history of the nation and to that 
period which marked the inception of the grandest republic the world has 
ever known. 

Mr. Hanford was born in Winchester, Van Buren county. Iowa, Jan- 
uary 9, 1853, and is a descendant of Eglin Hanford, who came to this coun- 
try from Sudbury, England, on the Planter, April 10, 1635. She was a 
widow at that time and brought with her two daughters, leaving one son, 
'lliomas, and a daughter, Eglin, in England. Later, about 1637, Thomas 
<dso emigrated to America and became the first minister at Norwalk, Con- 
necticut, where he lived from 1652 to 1693. He was married October 22, 
1661 to Miss Mary Ince, daughter of Richard Miles, who was one of the 
original settlers of Milford, Connecticut, but later became a resident of New 
Haven, being one of the seven founders of the church there. Thomas Han- 
ford, Jr., son of Thomas, was born in Norwalk, July 18, 1668, and maiTied 
Hannah Burwell. Their son Theophilus was the father of Theophilus Han- 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 455 

;"ord, Jr., who was born April 26, 1724. The latter's son, Ebenezer Han- 
ford, born October i, 1757, was the father of Thaddeus Hanford, the grand- 
father of our sul^ject. The last named was born in Norwalk, Connecticut, 
November 21, 1780, and in 1802 removed to Ohio, locating on a farm on 
the Little Miami river, nine miles from the city of Cincinnati. He was urged 
to accept the nomination for governor of the state but always refused to ac- 
cept any political office. A devoted Christian, he was for more than thirty 
years a class leader in the Methodist church. 

Edward Hanford, the father of our subject, was born in Cincinnati, 
Ohio, January 10, 1807, and was educated in the schools of that city. Dur- 
ing his minority he remained upon the home farm, and then in company 
with a brother went to Van Buren county, Iowa, where he purchased four 
hundred acres of land. There he was married December 4, 1845, to Miss 
Abby J. Holgate. She traces her ancestry back to William Holgate, the 
progenitor of the American branch of the family, who came to this country 
witJi William Penn and erected tlie first brick house in Philadelphia, im- 
porting the brick from England. This building was torn down in 1833 and 
some of the relics found in the corner stone are now in possession of the 
lamily. Members of the family took a conspicuous part in the Revolu- 
tionary war and one served as judge of the court of commi^i pleas. Abra- 
ham Levering Holgate, the father of Mrs. Hanford, was of the fifth gen- 
eration in direct descent from William Holgate. He was born in Phila- 
delphia, March i, 1791, and with his brother served as a soldier in the 
war of 1812, belonging to the Chestnut Hill Rifle Rangers. In October, 
1819, he removed to Pittsburg", Pennsylvania, where he was engaged in 
the manufacture of edged tools until 1824, and then removed to Lebanon, 
Ohio, where Mr. Hanford was born. In October, 1839, he went still farther 
west to the new territory of Iowa, where he made his home until called to 
final rest November 7, 1847. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Hanford were born five 
sons, namely : Thaddeus, now deceased, who was a graduate of the Uni- 
versity of Rochester (New York) in the class of 1870; Cornelius H., United 
States district judge of Washington ; Frank, the subject of this sketch ; Ar- 
thur E., a member of the abstract firm of Booth, Whitely & Hanford: and 
Clarence, a member of the firm of Lowman & Hanford Company. 

Edward Hanford continued his residence in Van Buren county. Iowa, 
until his wife's poor health made it advisable for the family to seek another 
climate. As her brother, John Holgate, had come to Oregon in 1847, they 
<lecided to remove to the Pacific coast and started for the west, crossing the 
Missouri river in May, 1853. They drove across the plains and arrived at 



456 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

their destination in November. On the ist of January. 1854, Mr. Hanfunl 
rind his hrotlier-in-la\v came north and selected a claim near Seattle, re- 
turning for his family in May. He found this part of the trip more severe 
than crossing the plains, as they had to travel by water much of the way. 
Canoes were at lirst used. Init the latter part of the journey was made on a 
scow. Mr. Hanford engaged in logging until the Indian war Ijroke out. when 
the red men killed all his cattle and destroyed his orchard of two hundred 
choice fruit trees. He then enlisted in the Home Guards under Captain 
Hughett and served until hostilities ceased. He went to Port Madison, 
and after a year removed to San Francisco in order to give his children bet- 
ter educational advantages than the schools of this state afforded at that 
time. At the end of six years, however, he returned to Seattle, and bought 
land at what is now the comer of Fourth avenue and James street, turn- 
ing his attention to fruit raising. Politically he was a strong Republican, 
but never iield office. When a young man he was an active memiier of the 
Methodist Protestant church, but after coming west united with the Baptist 
church which was organized at his house. Generous and hospitable he made 
many warm friends, and he was honored and respected by all w ho knew him. 
His death occurred in Seattle on the 25th of September, 1884. His wife still 
survives him and now makes her home -with our subject. 

It was during the infancy of Frank Hanford that the family crossed 
the plains to Portland, Oregon, and after stopping for a time with his uncle, 
John C. Holgate, came to Seattle in August. 1854. since which time our 
subject has been identified with the growth and prosperity of the city. He 
\Aas reared upon the frontier and his early education was obtained in a 
district school which was very good for those early days. Later when the 
family were driven away by the Indians in 1855 they took up their resi- 
dence in Seattle, where he attended school for six years. During their 
stay in San Francisco he was a student in the Washington grammar school 
two years, and for three years was employed in a mining and real estate 
office, there gaining his first knowledge of business methods. Returning 
10 Seattle in 1866, at the age of thirteen, he spent the following two years 
I 111 the home farm, and then entered the State University, where he was a 
student from 1869 until 1872. He next engaged in teaclting school art 
Seabeck for three months, and at the end of that time took charge of a store 
for a year. Subsequently he was in the employ of Crawford & Harrington 
for fourteen years, and at the end of that time embarked in the insurance 
business on his own account as a member of the firm of Puinphrey & Han- 
ford. Later the business was at dififerent times conducted under the firm 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 457 

style of Frank Hanford; Hanford & Beach and Hanford & Stewart until 
1898, when the present firm of Watson, Hanford & Company was estab- 
lished. This is one of the leading concerns of the kind in the city and they 
are doing a large and profitable business which is constantly increasing. 
Mr. Hanford is also interested in several mining companies and is a director 
of some of them. At one time he was a director of the ]\Ieyers Packing 
Company but has since retired. He is part owner in the bark Hesper and 
has considerable real estate, both farm land and residence property. His 
pleasant residence in Seattle was erected by him in 1886, and later he bought 
ten acres of land on Lake Washington with the view of building there 
but never did owing to his wife's death. 

At Canby, Oregon, Mr. Hanford was married in 1886 to Miss Eva 
Waite, a daughter of ex-Chief Justice Aaron E. Waite, of that state. She 
died in July, 1894, leaving one son, Frank Waite Hanford. An older 
child had died previously. 

Since attaining his majority Mr. Hanford has always affiliated with 
the Republican party, and has taken quite an active and prominent part in 
local politics. In 1890 he was elected to the city council and served two 
years, during which time a large amount of work was accomplished by that 
body as it was right after the fire. He was called upon to represent his 
district in the legislature in 1895 and became a prominent and influential 
member of the house. He was instrumental in securing the amendment to 
the corporation law, by which a majority of directors may be residents of 
ether states, and was active in having the arson law passed. He also suc- 
ceeded in having the bill, relieving ships in foreign trade from local tax, 
pass through the house but it could not be reached in the senate, owing to 
the great amount of legislation at that session. His speech on this won 
him great renown. Mr. Hanford was chairman of the house committee 
on investigation of penitentiaries, and was connected with other important 
work. He has been a delegrate to numerous county and state conventions 
of his party and takes a very active interest in politics but has never been 
a politician in the sense of office seeking. Fraternally he is a member of the 
Sons of the American Revolution, and when younger filled all the chairs in 
the different branches of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, including 
the ofiices of noble grand and chief patriarch. He attends the Episcopal 
church, of which his wife was an earnest member. 

As a pioneer Mr. Hanford has taken part in every event of historical 
interest to the city of Seattle, and although quite young he well remembers 
when the Indians made their attack on the place. At that time he was living 
29 



458 REPRESENTATIVE CHTZENS OF 

where Hotel Seattle now stands. When the Chinese riots occurred in 1886, 
Mr. Hanford was sworn in as a deputy sheriff and took an active part in the 
maintenance of law and order. He is a member of the Chamber of Com- 
merce and the Ranier Club, having been connected with the latter for fifteen 
years. It will thus be seen that Mr. Hanford has e\er been prominently 
identified with public affairs in Seattle, and as one of its leading and rep- 
resentative citizens deserving of honorable mention in its history. 

AUGUSTUS MUCHMORE. 

Success comes not to the man who idly waits, Ijut to the faithful toiler 
whose work is characterized by intelligence and torce; it comes only to the 
man who has the foresight and keenness of mental vision to know when, 
where and how to exert his energies, and thus it happens that but a small pro- 
portion of those who enter the "world's broad field of battle" come off victo- 
rious in the struggle for wealth and position. Mr. Muchmore is a member of 
the leading printing company of Seattle, the Mensing-Muchmore Company, 
of which he is the founder. He is a worthy representative of the younger ele- 
mait that has appreciated and improved the business opportunities that Se- 
attle offers. Starting in with a small printing office, in 1892, with only 
thirty or forty fonts of type, he has built up a business that is the most com- 
plete in its line on the coast. 

A native of New Jersey, Mr. Muchmore was born near INIadison, of that 
state, in 1867, and in both paternal and maternal lines comes of ancestiy 
that has long beein connected with America. The Muchmore family is of 
Scotch lineage and the first of the name in this country came to the new 
world between 1730 and 1740. Our subject was the fourth generation born 
in New Jersey, the records showing that his great-grandfather, his grandfa- 
ther, John Muchmore, and his fatlier, Joseph Eli Muchmore, were all natives 
of that state. John Muchmore was engaged in agricultural pursuits; his 
home adjoined Washington's headquarters, and the army on its memorable 
trip from Valley Forge encamped on his land. There were a number of 
Indian mounds there, and Augustus Muchmore has found, by excavating 
them, many arrow-heads and other Indian relics. Joseph E. Muchmore 
was born at Newark, New Jersey, in 1819. and spent his entire life in that 
locality. He was a carpenter and builder by trade, and followed it all his 
life, and was also interested in educational matters, filling several local posi- 
tions in connection with the schools. He married Margaret Cook Kitchell, 
and of their children se\en attained maturity and six are yet li\ing, but 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 459 

Augustus is the only one west of Chicago. The Kitchell family is of Eng- 
lish descent, and a complete record of the family can be traced down to 1500. 
Representatives of the name were on the second boat to reach American 
shores from England. Several of the family served in the Revolutionary 
war. and one of these was a direct ancestor of our subject. The old Kitchell' 
home was retained in the possession of the family until 1897. The maternal 
grandfather of our subject was born in 1797, and both his wife and the wife 
of John Muchmore were born in 1800. Joseph E. Muchmore passed away 
at the age of seventy-three years and his wife when fifty-four years of age. 

In the public schools and in a preparatory school at Williamstown, Mas- 
sachusetts, Augustus Muchmore pursued his education and then started 
upon his business career as an employe in a printing office. For nineteen 
years he has followed this pursuit. After a time spent at Madison, New 
Jersey, he went to Pennsylvania, and was employed in Carlisle and after- 
ward in Bedford. In 1889 he came to the west, remaining in California until 
the fall of the following year, when he returned to the Atlantic coast, but in 
1891 he again came to the Pacific coast. In 1893 he embarked in business 
on his own account, in Oakland. California, where, in connection with 
Frank Jordan, now clerk of the supreme court of the state of California, 
he established the Jordan Printing Company. He has always felt a deep 
interest in the Woodmen of the World, and while at Oakland he established 
the first paper setting forth the important object of that order and promot- 
ing its growth and development; it is still published. In 1S98 he decided 
to go to Skagway and establish a paper there, but upon reaching Seattle he 
was so pleased with the city and its prospects that he decided to locate here 
permanently. He started a sniall printing establishment in a room in the 
Collins building, and in November he admitted Mr. Mensing to a partner- 
ship under the firm name of the Mensing-Muchmore Company. They have 
steadily increased their business until they now have all of the work they can 
handle. In the spring of 1899 the company was incorporated under the 
name of the Mensing-Muchmore Company, Mr. Muchmore becoming the 
secretary and treasurer. The business grew so rapidly that it became neces- 
sary to increase their facilities, and in June, 190T, they removed to their 
present location, at 714 Third avenue, and put in a lithographing press. Since 
that time their business has steadily increased and will necessitate a removal 
to larger quarters in the near future. They have the most complete plant 
on the coast, as they do their own printing, lithographing and copper plate 
work, all of which is executed under the one roof. Their business has been 
ven,' satisfactory,' and tests the capacity of the plant and facilities to the ut- 



46o REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

most. Mr. Muchmore established the Forest Echoes here, and Head Consul 
Falkenburg of the Woodmen of the World says it is the best paper pub- 
lished in the interest of the order. Mr. Muchmore is serving as editor of 
this publication, which was begun shortly after his arrival here. 

Mr. Muchmore is also very active and prominent in political circles, has 
tjeen a close and earnest student of the questions and issues of the day, and 
has been active in support of the principles of the Republican party since, 
as a lad, he marched in the campaign when Grant was a candidate for the 
presidency. Since his arrival here he has been an active factor in local 
political circles and is now serving as a member of the city central commit- 
tee and has frequently Ijeen a delegate to both city and county conventions. 
In 1895 he joined the Woodmen of the W'orld, and his labors in behalf of 
the order have been far-reaching and very valuable, being fruitful of good re- 
sults. He was a representative of the head camp section which met in Crip- 
ple Creek, Colorado, in July, 1902, having been elected unanimously to that 
office. He has been consul commander here for two terms. He also be- 
longs to the Royal Arcanum, to the Ancient Order of United Workmen, to 
the Modern Woodmen of America, and is identified with the Women of 
Woodcraft. He likewise holds membership relations with the Benevolent 
and Protective Order of Elks, the Fraternal Order of Eagles and the Im- 
proved Order of Red Men, in which he is a past sachem and as a delegate 
attended the great council of the state of Washington in 1899. He has 
further membership relations with the Foresters of America and the Degree 
of Pocahontas. In Oakland, California, in 1893, occurred the marriage of 
Mr. Muchmore and Miss Florence Harrison Chick, a daughter of Harri- 
son Chick, wdio was an attorney of San Franci.sco. They have one daugh- 
ter, Dorothy Kitchell. Their hospitalile and comfortable home is a favorite 
resort of their many friends throughout the city. From a humble begin- 
ning in business circles Mr. Muchmore has steadily worked his way upward 
until the position which he now occupies is alike creditable and honorable 
to him. 

SAAIUEL LeROY CRAWFORD. 

Born near Oregon City, Oregon, June 22, 1855, of a family connected 
on both sides in the first settlement of Oregon, Samuel LeRoy Crawford is 
one of the few descendants of the pioneers of the northwest that are dis- 
tinguishable among the "che-chacos" that make up the larger part of the 
population of the northwest to-day. His parents crossed the plains to Ore- 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 461 

gon in 1847; the father, Ronald Crawford Crawford, to join his brother, 
Medorem, who had settled in the Willamette valley in 1842 ; and the mother, 
then a young girl, Elizabeth Moore, with her parents to join her grandfa- 
ther. Major Robert Moore, who had come across the plains in 1842 and 
taken up a donation claim at the falls of the Willamette river opposite Ore- 
gon City. Major Moore was one of the organizers of the first civil gov- 
ernment west of the Rockies, the provisional government of Oregon, estab- 
lished in 1843. Medorem Crawford also took an active part in forming that 
government and was during the remainder of his life a prominent figure in 
the political and civic history of the state. 

After receiving a common school education in the schools of Oregon 
City and Salem, in 1869 Samuel Crawford moved to Olympia, Washington, 
with his father's family. While there he learned the printer's trade and 
worked for several years on the Washington Standard and the Daily Echo. 
Visiting Seattle and becoming convinced that it was the most promising place 
on Puget Sound, Mr. Crawford came here in June, 1876, and took charge of 
the mechanical department of a newl}'- established paper, the Daily Intelli- 
gencer. In a few years his instinct for news and his ability for newspaper 
work cropped out and he was placed at the head of the local department. In 
1880 he and Thomas W. Prosch purchased the Intelligencer ajid by enter- 
prise and hard work made it the leading journal of the territory. In 1882, 
when the Intelligencer was consolidated with the Post as the Post-Intelli- 
gencer, Mr. Crawford sold his interest, but remained for six years in charge 
of the news department. In November, 18S8, he and another employe of 
the Post-Intelligencer, Charles T. Conover, quit its service and entered the 
real estate business. Their co-partnership, later incorporated under the title 
of Crawford & Conover, gave this state its soubriquet "The Evergreen 
State," and has spent large sums of money in advertising the wealth and ad- 
vantages of Seattle and the state of Washington. Mr. Crawford is presi- 
dent of this corporation and is also a member of the firm of Crawford, Con- 
over & Fisken, general insurance agents. 

For many years a trustee of the chamber of commerce, Mr. Crawford 
has always been one of its chief workers, particularly in receiving and enter- 
taining visitors, for which he is especially fitted by his knowledge of what 
Seattle has done and is doing. Because of this knowledge and his familiarity 
with values of real estate in and about Seattle Mr. Crawford is frequently 
called upon to appraise property for the federal and state governments and 
the large corporations having interests here. 

Mr. Crawford has a fine collection of interesting and valuable photo- 



462 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

graphs of pioneer men and places, and his memory is a treasure liouse of 
anecdotes of early days on Puget Sound. He was a member of the first 
baseball nine of the sound; in fact, he introduced baseball to Seattle, and 
was for years one of the best amateur players on the sound. He was also 
a member of the volunteer fire department, which served Seattle well for 
many years, ami was a charter member of Seattle Hook & Ladder Company 
No. I. 

Princess Angeline, Chief Seattle's daughter, counted Mr. Craw- 
ford, who speaks Chinook, one of her "tillicums," and used to go to him for 
advice and assistance, and he often acted as interpreter when a prominent 
visitor to this city wished to interview the old princess. After her death 
Mr. Crawford raised a fund among the children of Seattle and erected a 
monument over her grave in Lake View cemetery. He appealed to chil- 
dren rather than adults in the hope that contributing to this fund would 
make them feel linked in some measure to the early history of their city, 
which he believes should be made familiar to the rising generation, that, 
.knowing from what small beginnings and by what struggles Seattle has at- 
tained her present position, they may appreciate what Seattle means to the 
old residents. 

A genuine westerner, hearty, generous, hospitable, "Sam Crawford," 
as he is familiarly known to thousands of the old residents of the Puget 
.Sound country and to many of the new, is the type of the men that have made 
the "Seattle spirit" famous by their pride and confidence in the city and b}-" 
their united and untiring efforts to advance her interests. Of this spirit, 
which was undaunted by a fifteen million dollar fire and which carried the 
city through the great financial panic without the loss of a bank and with a 
steady increase in wealth and population, no other Seattleite has more than 
Mr. Crawford, no other has a deeper love for Seattle or a firmer belief that 
the future for w'hich he has helped to lay the foundation wmII gloriously ful- 
fill the promise of the present. 

H. A. NOBLE. 

The above named gentleman, who is well known in business circles in 
Seattle on account of his prominent connection with the Kirkland Land Im- 
provement Company and the District Telegraph Company, is an eastern man 
with a distinguished genealogy, both on the side of his father and mother. 
Thomas Noble, the emigrant ancestor, crossed the ocean from England in 
the wake of the Pilgrims in the early half of the seventeenth century, bought 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 463 

land in Massachusetts and became the progenitor of a vigorous hne which 
in future 3'ears ramified throughout the various states of the American Un- 
ion. Passing over the numerous generations down to the present era, we 
find a branch of this family strongly entrenched in Monroe county, New 
York, on the borders of Lake Ontario. From there, in 1832, Theron A. 
Noble removed to Ohio and engaged in the mercantile business at Cleveland, 
but on account of an outbreak of the cholera subsequently changed his loca- 
tion to the neighboring city of Akron. His experiences as a pioneer mer- 
chant at that point are interesting to this age of rapid transportation. It 
was his custom to ride annually to New York on horseback to purchase his 
stock of goods, and such a journey in those days was longer and more tedi- 
ous than a trip now around the world. The return merchandise was trans- 
ported to Ohio in those clumsy vehicles called "prairie schooners,'' and the 
arrival of these caravans in the scattered Ohio towns was always an event 
of moment. This Akron merchant married into a distinguished family at 
Rochester, New York, his bride being Miss Lydia, daughter of John Acer, 
and on the maternal side a granddaughter oi John Quincy Adams. This 
lady, who is described by those who knew her as possessed of remarkable 
strength both of mind and character, lived to an unusual age, only lacking 
two years of having completed a century of existence when the final sum- 
mons called her to eternal rest. 

H. A. Noble, son of this worthy couple, was born at Rochester, New 
York, May 16, 1829, and was consequently but three years of age when his 
father located in Ohio. He grew up in his new western home and received 
his education principally in the schools at Akron, but inherited his father's 
fondness for mercantile pursuits and at an early age engaged in the milling 
business. We find him thus employed at the inception of the great Civil 
war, whose momentous incidents changed careers for so many of the youths 
of the land. ^Ir. Noble, like other young men of Ohio, felt the patriotic 
impulse and was anxious to go to the front, but the wretched condition of 
his health at that time, added to the difficulties of a domestic nature, pre- 
vented his enlistment in the army. He was liberal with his means, however, 
and as a donation to the LTnion cause paid nine hundred dollars to clear his 
township from a cVraft for the army, and was offered the quartermastership 
of the Ninety-eighth Ohio Regiment. In hopes of recuperating his health 
Mr. Noble went to Iowa and was for some time engaged extensively in the 
cattle business near Des Moines. With regained strength and vigor, as a 
result of a change of climate and outdoor exercise, he subsequently em- 
barked in the barbed wire business and carried this on energetically for some 



464 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

years in that section of the state. In i8S(3 he removed his headquarters to 
Chicago, estabhshed a mill at Lockport and entered vigorously into the man- 
ufacture of barbed wire, which at that time was much in demand throughout 
the farming sections of the west. At first his ambition extended no farther 
than the turning out of some fifty carloads of his product annually, but in a 
short time his firm was manufacturing at the rate of one thousand two hun- 
dred and fifty carloads a year. Ill health, however, again interfered, and in 
1890 Mr. Noble found himself compelled to leave Illinois in search of a. more 
salubrious atmosphere and a complete change of employment. His atten- 
tion had been attracted to the rising young city on Fuget Sound, and eventu- 
ally he found himself located and engaged in an entirely new business at 
Seattle. In partnership with his brother-in-law, Mr. Leigh Hunt, he as- 
sisted in organizing the Kirkland Land & Improvement Company, of which 
he has been president since its incorporation. This company owns about 
two thousand acres of land, situated on the shores of Lake Washington, and 
the original intention was to establish a large iron plant in that locality, but 
unexpected diiiliculties pre\-ented the carrying out of this design. Owing to 
the hard times then prevailing in the west as the result of the panic of 1893, 
and felt with special severity in the state of Washington, some of the heavy 
eastern stockholders were unwilling to proceed, though a large amount of 
money had already been expended in the enterprise. When Mr. Noble 
reached Seattle he found the American District Telegraph Company in a lan- 
guishing condition, but being elected president he reorganized it with his 
usual energy and executive ability, and in time brought about such marked 
improvement that the success of this undertaking now seems assured. 

Turning to the social side of Mr. Noble's iife and his relations aside 
from business, a few additional remarks will be pertinent. He was married 
at Massilon, Ohio, to Miss Mary F. Cummings, and by this union has two 
sons and two daughters. Miss Jessie, the eldest, is the wife of the well 
known Leigh Hunt, now engaged extensively in mining operations in Korea. 
Mr. T. A. Noble, the oldest son. is a civil engineer by occupation. His young- 
er brother, C. H., is engaged in the lumber business at Leahy, Washington, 
and Josephine, the other daughter, married Frank H. Brownell, an attorney 
at Everett. It has been the custom of Mr. Noble for years to spend his 
summers at his pleasant rural residence across Lake Washington, while his 
winters are usually passed in southern travel, last season being devoted to a 
delightful trip to old Mexico and the previous one to a journey through dis- 
tant Japan. Mr. Noble was affiliated with the Whig party until its merger 
with the Republicans as a result of the great slavery agitation, and since then 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 465 

has been an ardent advocate of the principles of Lincoln, Sumner and the 
other great apostles of freedom. His fraternal connections are confined to 
the Masonic fraternity, of which ancient and honorable order he has long 
been a member. 

ZEPHANL\H B. RAWSON. 

In this enlightened age, when men of industrj-, energj' and merit are 
rapidly pushing their way to the front, those who, by their own individual 
efforts, have won favor and fortune may properly claim recognition. In 
no calling to which man gives his attention does success depend more 
largely upon individual effort than in the law, and that Mr. Zephaniah B. 
Rawson has achieved distinction in the field of juri.«prudence at once attests 
his superior ability and close application. A man of sound judgment, he 
manages his cases with masterly skill and tact, is a logical reasoner and has 
a ready command of English. His powers as an advocate have been demon- 
strated by his success on many occasions, and he is an able lawyer of large 
and varied experience in all the courts. Thoroughness characterizes all his 
efforts and he conducts all his business with a strict regard to a high standard 
of professional ethics. 

Mr. Rawson was born in Paris, Maine, in 1858. The ancestral line 
can be traced back to a very early period in tlie colonization of America. 
The first of this family to come to America was Edward, a native of Eng- 
land, who crossed the Atlantic in 1636. He became a very prominent and 
influential man and served his country as secretary of the Massachusetts 
colony from 1650 until 16S6. He was also one of the founders of the Old 
South church of Boston, and bore an important part in the establishment 
of the policy of the colony in the early days. The family is one well known 
and honored in England to this day, and its members yet hold high offices 
in the navy, while one is a member of the House of Lords. At the time of 
the Revolutionary war the branch of the family that had been founded in 
this country was represented by loyal soldiers in the colonial army. In civic 
affairs and in various important walks of life members of the family have 
figured honorably and conspicuously in both the New England and central 
states. The name of Ra\\^son has ever been an honored one and in civil and 
military life its representatives have commanded the respect and confidence 
of the communities in which they have lived, and have borne their part in 
the work of public progress and improvement. Frank M. Rawson, the fa- 
ther of our subject, was bom in Paris. Maine, and followed agricultural pur- 



466 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

suits. His religious faith was indicated by his membeisliip in the Methodist 
clnirch. He married Vesta A. Whitman and died wlien the subject of this 
review was only six years of age. 

Zephaniali B. Rawson remained at liome until he was twelve j'ears of 
age. He prepared for college in the Maine Wesleyan Seminary at Kent's 
Hill, and, earning his own way through school from the time he was thir- 
teen years of age, he thus early showed the elementary strength of his char- 
acter, which has been developed with the passing years. His natural aptitude 
in his studies, supplemented by his earnest desire to secure an education, 
made him a good scholar. He resolved to devote his attention to profes- 
sional life, and to this end he read law under the direction of Judge Enoch 
Foster of the supreme court of Maine, and subsequently entered the Colum- 
bian University, at Washington, D. C, and was graduated in that institu- 
tion with the class of 1888. 

He practiced in the Pine Tree state until 1889, and, as he had resolved 
to become a resident of Washington when the state should be admitted to 
the Union, he started for the northwest as soon as this was accomplished. 
He had heard more of Tacoma than of Seattle, but on looking over the situa- 
tion and viewing the possibilities of the two cities he decided to locate in 
the latter, although friends and relatives urged him to establish his home in 
Tacoma. Time has proved the wisdom of his choice, for in this great and 
growing city he has risen to an enviable position in the ranks of the legal 
fraternity. On locating here he entered into partnership as a member of 
the firm of Lovejoy & Rawson. A year later he formed a partnership with 
Mr. Waller, wliich was continued for two years, since which time Mr. Raw- 
son has been alone. He has engaged in the general practice of law, though 
to some extent he has made a specialty of real estate litigations. He has 
had a large volume of probate practice, but he does not desire to make a 
specialty of any one Ime and has a broad and comprehensive knowledge of 
jurisprudence in all its departments. He practices before all the courts, and 
in 1896-97 was city attorney of Seattle. He is quick to master all the in- 
tricacies in a case and grasp all the details, at the same time losing sight of 
none of the essential points upon which the decision of every case finally 
turns. He has a ready flow of language and as a speaker is fluent, forcible, 
earnest and logical as well as convincing in argument. His knowledge of 
the law, it must be conceded, is hardly second to that of any other member of 
the bar of Washington. 

Mr. Rawson has taken an active interest in military affairs, having been 
identified with the national guards since 1893, when he became a member of 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 467 

Company D. and was soon afterward appointed to the position of sergeant 
major of the First Washington Regiment. As this office was in the hne 
of staff duty, and he desired active work, he resigned just prior to the Span- 
ish-American war and re-enhsted in Company D. This regiment was mus- 
tered into the United States service and he has the distinction of having been 
the first enhsted man sworn into the service from the state of Washington, 
lie received honorable mention for distinguished and meritorious service 
on five (Hfferent occasions, while acting as first sergeant in the Philippines. 
He was later promoted to the second lieutenancy for his commendable gal- 
lantry and capable work. He was in every engagement in which his com- 
pany participated except one, and that was while he was in the hospital, thir- 
ty miles away, but twenty minutes after he had heard that the battle was in 
progress he started to join his company. He was also in many of the scout- 
ing expeditions and was twice away from his company for so long a time 
that he was reported dead among his comrades. He participated in eighteen 
definite engagements outside of the scouting expeditions, and served con- 
tinuously with the regiment until mustered out with the rank of second lieu- 
tenant at San Francisco on the ist of November, 1899. Soon after his re- 
turn he was appoined brigade inspector with the rank of lieutenant colonel, 
and held that position until he became a member of the legislature. 

Mr. Rawson has also won honor and distinction in political circles. His 
study of the issues and questions of the day and of the attitude of the parties 
concerning the same has led him to ally himself with the Republican party, 
and in the fall of 1900 he was nominated on its ticket as representative from 
the forty-first district to the state legislature. His opposition to the bill 
increasing the salary of adjutant generals and decreasing that of the enlisted 
men won him considerable notoriety.' In aiding in the defeat of the admin- 
istration bill he also took a prominent part. He labored as earnestly for -the 
bill ])roviding for the return of the penalty on city taxes to the city instead 
of to the county, and was of material assistance in obtaining the passage of 
that measure. While in the house he served as chairman of the military com- 
mittee and was a member of the committee on appropriation, in which ca- 
pacity he was instrumaital in wrecking some of the unjust bills. He was 
also a member of the judiciary and horticultural committees and was widely 
recognized as one of the active working members of the house, fearless in 
defense of what he believed to be right and as fearless in his opposition to 
what he believed would be detrimental to the weal of the state. 

In Maine, in January, 1884, occurred the marriage of Mr. Rawson and 
Miss Nellie F. French, a daughter of Edwin R. French, who for two terms 



468 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

served as state senator in Maine. They now have two interesting sons, 
Ralph F. and Erroll W. Mr. Rawson is a member of the Woodmen of the 
World, of the Modern Woodmen of America and of the Unitarian church. 
His has been a most creditable record, cliaracterized by a fidelity to duty in 
private life, in military circles and in politcal matters. He has been recog- 
nized here for his sterling qualities, his fearless loyalty to his honest convic- 
tions, his sturdy opposition to misrule in public affairs, together with his 
clear-headedness, discretion and tact as a manager and leader. His career 
at the bar has been one of great honor, and throughout his entire life he has 
commanded the respect and confidence of those with whom he has been 
associated. He is a gentleman of strong purpose, who from the early age of 
thirteen years, has depended upon his own resources and by sheer merit and 
ability has gained the honorable position which he now occupies in public 
affairs. 

ARCHIBALD L. HERREN. 

The above named, a retired real-estate dealer and capitalist of Seattle, 
has through the control of extensive property interests been the promoter 
of growth and development in more than one section of this country. Pos- 
sessing keen discrimination, which enables him to readily recognize oppor- 
tunities for colonization, having also marked energy and business capacity, 
his labors have proven of benefit to the localities in which he has operated 
and at the same time have brought success that ranks him among the cap- 
italists of his adopted city. Mr. Herren deserves great credit and com- 
mendation for what he has accomplished, for at the close of the Civil war 
he found himself destitute as the result of the exigencies of that struggle, 
his interests at that time having been in the midst of the country over which 
passed the contending armies. 

Mr. Herren was born at Waynesville, North Carolina, July 19, 1833, 
a son of Eli B. and Jane (Yarbrough) Herren, natives of North Carolina 
and South Carolina, respectively. He comes of an old and prominent fam- 
ily of the south that has been represented in all of the wars of the country 
from the time of the early Indian outbreaks. Representatives of the name 
were found among those who fought for liberty in the Revolution and for 
American rights in the war of 1812. They were also in the Texas revolu- 
tion and when the contest arose between the north and the south two broth- 
ers of our subject joined the Confederate army. The great-grandfather of 
Mr. Herren was a native of Virginia, but liecanie the founder of the family 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 469 

in North Carolina, where Berry Herren, the grandfather, was born. He 
engaged in agricuhural pursuits, but EH B. Herren, his son and the father 
of our subject, turned his attention to merchandising and trading, and in 
his business affairs prospered. In his rehgious faith he was a Baptist and a 
man of prominence and influence in his community in ante-beUum days. 
In the family were ten children, of whom Archibald L. is the eldest. Seven 
of the number are now living : A. J., a farmer of Cowlitz county, Washing- 
ton; J. P., who is a millman and farmer residing in North Carolina; Will- 
iam A., who is engaged in farming and manufacturing at the old home 
in North Carolina; S. C, an attorney of Moscow, Idaho; Josephine, the 
wife of Thomas S. Siler, of North Carolina; and Sarah J., the wife of 
W. E. Miller, of North Carolina. Those who have passed away died in 
childhood. 

Archibald L. Herron was reared in North Carolina, but his educational 
advantages were rather meager and it has been by study at home, through 
broad reading and observation that he has become a well informed man. 
Possessing an observant eye and retentive memory he is continually adding 
to his knowledge facts gained in the school of experience. At an early age 
he became his father's assistant in the store and afterward was admitted 
to a partnership in the business, this relation being maintained until the 
beginning of the war. As a result of that terrible struggle his store, like 
many other enterprises of the south, was destroyed and his business utterly 
ruined. Two of his brothers joined the southern army but Archibald L. 
Herren remained true to the Union cause and upheld the supremacy of the 
government at Washington. He had served as postmaster of his own town 
and after the cessation of hostilities he took a prominent part in public affairs 
during the reconstruction period, doing all in his power to establish peace 
and to place his district in harmonious relations wnth the government. He 
was nominated on the Republican ticket for the office of state senator and 
filled several federal positions, including that of postmaster. He was also 
the chairman of the first board of county commissioners of his county after 
the restoration of peace. He had served as magistrate from 1855 until 
1866 and was one of the five magistrates of the county constituting a "select 
court." 

■ While taking an active part in public affairs during 'the reconstruc- 
tion period and rendering valuable aid to the government in public office, 
Mr. Herren, in business life, was doing what he could to retrieve his lost 
possessions. He found himself at the close of the war destitute of funds, 
but with commercial reputation and credit that enabled him to secure a 



470 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

stock of goods worth teii thousand dollars from New York city, and witli 
this he resumed business in Waynesville, North Carolina, wh.ere he remained 
in successful trade until 1870. He then removed to Greenville, South Car- 
olina, and during the next ten years became interested to a considerable 
extent in Texas lands and also in city lots in Austin, that state. In 1880 
he returned to his old home in North Carolina. Prior to his removal from 
there in 1870 he had become largely interested in lands in that state and 
owned and controlled between fifty and one hundred thousand acres. He 
remained continuously in North Carolina until 1890, when he came to Seattle 
and after investigating the possibilities and resources of this region he or- 
ganized the Puget Sound Colony Company, of which he became the presi- 
dent. The object of this company was to organize colonies and thus in- 
duce settlement of the Sound country. He has retained large land inter- 
ests in North Carolina, but has been disposing of these since taking up his 
residence here, believing that the northwest has a brilliant future before it. 
He has made extensive and judicious investments in real estate in Seattle and 
now has very valuable property here, his attention being given to the super- 
vision of his interests. 

On the 2 1 St of March, 1875, Mr. Herren was married to lola Jones, 
a daughter of Dr. W. R. and Elizabeth (Parkins) Jones, the parents and 
daughter being natives of South Carolina and representatives of an old 
southern family of distinction. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Herren have been born 
eight children: Jennie, who is an artist of local prominence; Elizabeth, who 
is a graduate of the State University of Washington and a successful and 
popular teacher; Ellen, Archibald, Lyda, lola, Mattie and Maude, all with 
their parents. The family have a fine modern home at No. 512 Highland 
Drive, overlooking Lake Union from an advantageous site on Queen Anne 
Hill. The family attend the Baptist church, of which Mr. Herren has been 
a member for many years. In business circles he is regarded as a man of 
unusually good judgment, quick perception and decision. He yet has large 
interests in the south, which he supervises from this point, in addition to 
the management of his investments in the northwest. A little more than 
a third of a century ago left almost penniless as the result of conditions 
arising from the Civil war, he is to-day numbered among the capitalists of 
Seattle, and his Hfe history stands in splendid exemplification of the fact 
that the road to success is open to all in this free land of ours and that 
merit, close application and sound judgment, arising from a thorough study 
of a business situation, are the elements necessary in gaining prosperity. 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 47 1 

WILLIAM H. BRINKER. 

The man who achieves success in the legal profession is even more 
strictly the "architect of his own fortunes" than is the average self-made 
business man, there being in the keen competitions of the lawyer's life, with 
its constantly recurring mental duel between eager and determined antago- 
nists, no chance for the operation of influences which may be called to the aid 
of the merchant, the manufacturer or financier. Among the men of Seattle 
who have demonstrated their abilities in this difficult field William H. Brin- 
ker holds a leading place, and his history affords an interesting example of 
ambition rightly directed and pursued with a zeal which overcomes all ob- 
stacles. 

Mr. Brinker was born in Missouri on the 23d of December, 185 1, and 
lielongs to a good old southern family, being a grandson of Abraham Brink- 
er, a Virginia planter, who at an early day went to the Louisiana territory 
and was given a grant of land by the king of Spain in what is now Washing- 
ton county, Missouri. He was afterward killed by the Indians on the present 
site of Kansas City in 1S18. John B. Brinker, the father of our subject, 
was born in Kentucky, but when a mere boy was taken by his parents to Mis- 
souri, where he was reared to manhood. He became a merchant and planter 
of that state and died there in 1854. In politics he was a Whig and was a 
stanch supporter of Henry Clay. He married Sarah B. Murphy, and to 
them were bom eleven children, of whom our subject was the ninth in order 
of birth. Only two representatives of this family now reside in Seattle, 
our sul>ject and his sister, Mrs. S. W. Hutchcraft. 

In early boyhood William H. Brinker attended the public schools of his 
native state, but at that time the country was involved in civil war, and when 
thirteen years old, but large for his age, he laid aside his text books and 
joined the Confederate army. As a member of Shelby's cavalry he partici- 
pated in Price's raid through Missouri in 1864, and was in all of the enage- 
ments in that state after the battle of Pilot Knob. He also went with his 
command to Texas and remained in the service until hostilities ceased. He 
had two brothers, John D. and Abraham Brinker, who were killed during 
the war. 

At the close of the war our subject drove a six-mule team from Inde- 
pendence, Missouri, to Port Union, New Mexico, and later took a drove 
of cattle from Texas to Salt Lake City. He next engaged in railroad work 
on tlie Union Pacific, at first as a section hand, but he worked his way upward 
to the position of foreman. In the performance of the duties of that posi- 



472 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

tion he was injured and had to give up railroad work. Returning to Mis- 
souri, he was employed on a farm during the summer months and attended 
school for two waiters. For one year he was a student in the Missouri Uni- 
versity, and subsequently engaged in teaching school, during which time he 
devoted his leisure moments to reading law, and was admitted to the bar 
on the I2th of June, 1873. He was engaged in the practice of his chosen 
profession at his old home in Missouri for a year, and then went to Ne- 
braska, but was tliere only six months when the great grasshopper plague 
visited that state, making the outlook very gloomy, so tliat he returned to 
Missouri in the fall. In 1876 he was elected prosecuting attorney of John- 
son county, and so acceptably did he fill the ofhce that he was re-elected in 
1878 and 1880. 

In 1885 ^Ir. Brinker received the first territorial appointment made by 
President Cleveland, that of associate justice of the supreme court of New 
Mexico, and he held that position until President Harrison's election, when 
he resigned. Upon his resignation, in May, 18S9, he returned to Missouri, 
but in December of the same year came to Washington, locating first at 
South Bend, Pacific county, where he was engaged in practice until taking up 
his residence in Seattle in 1892, having become a candidate for the supreme 
judgeship on the Democratic ticket. Here he has made his home ever since. 
In 1893 he was appointed district attorney by President Cleveland, without 
solicitation on his part, and he held that office until November, 1897, since 
which time he has engaged in private practice in Seattle, with the exception 
of a part of two summers spent in practice at Nome, Alaska. He practices 
before all the courts and has a good clientage. 

At Warrensburg, Missouri, April zj, 1874, ilr. Brinker was united in 
marriage to Miss Lillian M. Hutchinson, a daughter of O. H. P. Hutchin- 
son, and to them have been born three sons, namely: Jesse F... who is now 
with the engineering corps of the United States army at Luzon, in the Philip- 
pines; Robert H., bookkeeper for the Fox Saw Works at Seattle; and Will- 
iam H., Jr., a student at the State University of Washington. Fraternally 
Mr. Brinker is connected with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, 
the Royal Arcanum and Woodmen of the World, and is a non-affiliated 
Mason and Knight of Pythias. A Democrat in politics, he was active in the 
councils of the party until its departure from the old established principles 
of law and justice and went to seeking after new gods, since which time Mr. 
Brinker has been at sea. Socially he is deservedly popular, as he is affable 
and courteous in manner and possesses that essential qualification to success 
in public life, that of making friends readily and of strengthening the ties 
of all friendships as time advances. 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 473 

ENOCH E. BREECE. 

.\ leeling uf the deepest reyret ani.1 consternation spread throughout 
Seattle when the news of the tragic death of Enoch E. Breece was received. 
He was one of the most faithful i-epreseutatives of the city's public service, 
his loyalty being above question. Seattle had no truer friend and he mani- 
fested his belief in her future b\" investing his means in city property. In 
every way possible he aided in the improvement and progress of the city and 
was widely known as one of Seattle's representative men. In private life, 
too, his characteristics were such as gained for him warm personal regard, 
and the circle of his friends was extensive. 

Enoch E. Breece was born in Licking county, Ohio, July 5, 1856, a son 
of Benjamin and Martha (Randalls) Breece, the former a native "of Virginia 
and the latter of Ohio. The Breece family is of Welsh origin and was found- 
ed in Philadelphia at the time William Penn established the colony which was 
named in his honor. The grandfather of ottr subject, leaving Pennsylvania, 
removed to Virginia and later to Ohio, and it was during his stay in the 
former state that Benjamin Breece was born. The latter was one of twelve 
children and was left fatherless at the early age of seven years. Accordingly 
he was liound out to a man of the name of Murray, who was to give him a 
horse or one hundred dollars in money when he was of age. He began farm- 
ing in Ohio on his own account at the age of twenty-two years, renting a tract 
of land which he cultivated until 1865. when he removed to Effingham coun- 
ty. Illinois, where he purchased a tract of land, but because of a defective 
title lost all that he had invested in the property. In 1882 he removed to 
Robertson county, Texas, but after a short time went to Lincoln county, New 
Mexico, where he entered land from the government and engaged in agricul- 
tural pursuits. From there he came to Brooklyn, Washington, a suburb of 
Seattle, and made his home with our subject for a time, after which he pur- 
chased the ])roperty now occupied by his widow. He died in A'lay, 1899. at 
the age of sixty-eight years, and his widow is now seventy-one years of age. 
In their family were four children : William L.. who is engaged in mining 
at Nome; .Vdam A., a resident of Brooklyn, King county; Enoch E. ; and 
Deborah, the wife of Elijah Peebles of Fort Stanton, New Mexico. 

Enoch E. Breece was a child of nine years when he accompanied his 
parents on their removal to Illinois, where he was reared to manhood upon a 
farm. He acquired a liberal education and at the age of eighteen years en- 
gaged in teaching school, which he followed for three years, two years of 
that time in INloccasin, Illinois. In 1878 he removed to Madison county, 



474 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

]o\va, where he followed school teaching tor a year, and then went to Cass 
county, where he attended the normal school. lie was married in Afton, 
Union CMUiUy. k)\\a. I'ebrnary 2b, 1879, to Miss Hattie Varnall, a native of 
Moccasin, Illinois, in which ])lace they had become acquainted. It was his 
desire to secure a home for them, and on the day of their marriage they 
started in a covered wagon for Norton county. Kansas, Mr. Breece having 
previously secured the team and wagon for the journey. As it was h'ebruary 
and cold antl wintry, the trip was not a very pleasant one, hut after tra\eling 
for a month over bad roads they reached their destination, locating three 
miles from the Long Branch postoftice in Decatur county, Kansas, their home, 
iiowever. being across the boundar\- line between Decatur and Norton 
couiules. 

.Mr. Breece pre-empted a (|uartcr section of land and at the .same time 
secured a timlx;r claim in Decatur county, making a half-section altogether. 
'I'his claim was one of a thousand which proved a success. Mr. Breece com- 
plying not only with the letter but with the spirit of the law. in cultivating the 
timber, lie owned the property up to the time of his death, and it now has 
upon ii liftccn thousand good ash trees, lie made his home in Kansas until 
after he pn>\ed u[) his claims, and in 1S82 he returned to ^'ork county, Ne- 
braska, and taught two terms of school there, also attending the county 
normal .school. His purpose was to ])repare for college, for he had an un.sat- 
istied craving for knowleilge, but eventually he al>andoned the jjlan of pursu- 
ing a collegiate course and in 1883 embarked in the photographic business in 
(jirard. Kan.sas, where he securerl an extensne patronage and had a home of 
his own. There he remained until the fall, when his wife's mother died. 
She had long been in delicate health, .and Mrs. lireece. who was the eklest of 
her children, had taken the mother's part to the younger members of the 
famdy. The father desiring to keep his children together. Mr. and Mrs. 
Breece decided to go with him to Red W'ilknv county, Nebraska, and our sub- 
ject established a photographic gallery at Indianola, the county seat. Tliere 
he carried on business until the spring of 1885, when he remo\ed to a home- 
stead, adjoining his timber claim in Decatur county. K.insas. having laid 
claim to the land the previous fall. His first home in that state had been a 
sod house and now he mo\ed into a dugout. I'or five years he made his 
home upon his new place, breaking one hundred and ten acres oi land on both 
claims, and fencing the two hundred and twenty acres with wire fence. He 
engaged in agricultural jiursuits and stock-raising on cjuite an e.\teusi\'e .scale, 
and having proved up his claim in October. 1890. he decided to take a vaca- 
tion after vears of hard and continni>us labor ;inil make a trip to Seattle. 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNT.Y. 475 

S(i well [ilcased with this lucality was Mr. Breece that he iiexer returned 
to Kansas, and chsposing ui his property in that state, with tlie exception of 
the timher claim, he purchased eighty acres of timber land in Snohomish 
county, Washington, and engaged in the business pruning and triming orch- 
ards, for which his previous experience with the cultivation of trees had well 
qualified him. He followed that business for several years and then, having 
traded <onie live st<x:k for a residence and two lots in Brooklyn, he settled in 
Seattle, in what was the Brooklyn aildition to the city. In (jrder to encour- 
age the settlement of this lncalit\- the owners of the land offered one lot free 
to each of the hrst twent_\' settlers who would Inn' one lot and erect a residence 
worth one thousand dollars. Mr. Breece was among the number who com- 
plying with the request thus received the extra lot. In the spring of i8qi he 
erected the home which is now occupied by his family. 

A man of scholarly tastes, Mr. Breece never satishetl his thirst for knowl- 
edge and not only by broad reading and research did he impro\e his mind, 
but even after coming to this city he spent one year as a studait in the Uni- 
versity of Washington, taking up a normal course, and after the new uni\'ers- 
ity buildings were erected he spent another term there as a student, Init again 
he was obliged to give up his studies on account of l)usiness complications 
caused bv an effort to assist a friend in procuring a home. This left him 
with obligations to meet which forced him to discontinue his studies. He 
then accepted a ])osition under Professor Russell of the State Uni\ersity of 
Michigan and a United States geologist, and went on a geological expedition 
to M(nint Stewart, Washington, and other parts of the state, for the purpose 
of securing specimens of minerals for the government. He was thus en- 
gaged for one season and in the fall he tcx)k the civil service examination for 
a position on the police department of Seattle. Being appointed to ii jjosition 
on the city patrol, he acted in that capacity until his death. From the time 
of iiis arrival in Seattle he had the deepest interest in the welfare of the city 
and its upbuilding. He invested liis money here, becoming the owner of 
twenty-two lots. 

In politics Mr. Breece was a Democrat and fraternall\- was connected 
with ihc \\'oodmen of the World and the Modem Woodmen of jVmerica. 
lie held membership in the Brooklyn Methodist Episcoi)al church, was one 
of its trustees, and his family also attended services there. To Mr. and Mrs. 
Breece were born three children, .\lbert O., who is in the luail service '.~,i 
Seattle, and Cora M. and Dora I'"., at home. 

Mr. Breece was one of the .successful and enterprising citizens of Seattle. 
His comfortable home, which he erected near the university, gave evidence of 



476 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

his enterprise .•md liis care fur his family. Tiie attractive residence wa.s sur- 
rounded by many \arieties of choice fruits and a profusion of (lowers and 
there Mrs. Breece and her children are still lixini^. In 1902 Mr. Breece 
erected a fine new business block, with stores beknv and a hotel above, which is 
a credit to the suburb of Brooklyn. In the performance of dul}- he was 
prompt, reliable and entirely loyal, and it was due to these characteristics that 
he lost his life at the hands of a notorious desperado anil escaped convict. 
Harry Tracv, whom he fearlessly faced in his attempt to arrest him. .Mr. 
Breece could have sliot him down, but he humanely sought to arrest him with- 
out taking his life, and the criminal shot him. He died as he had lived, true 
to duty, but his death came as a telling blow to his family and friends. He 
leaves behind him an untarnished name and a reputation over which there 
falls no shadow of wrong. He was true to the attributes of an upright man- 
hood, was brave, loyal and true, and because of these traits he was unif(jrm!y 
honored by his fellow men. 

AMOS BRO\^'N. 

.\mong the residents of Seattle once i)rijnnnent in licr public affairs 
who ha\e now passed to that "undiscovered country from whose bourne 
no traveler returns," is numbered Amos Brown, one of the honored pioneers 
(if the city, whose labors were of material Ijenefit in the improvement and 
upbuilding of this beautiful metropolis. A feeling of the deepest regret 
spread through the city as the news of his demise was received b\' those who 
knew him. not so much because of the part which he took in business life, 
not so much for the aid which he gave to public enterprises, but because 
the sterling traits of his character had endeared him to those with whom he 
was associated and because his benevolent spirit and generosity were so 
often and yet .so unostentatiously manifested. 

Mr. y^rown was l)orn in Bristol, Grafton county. New Hampshire, on 
the 29th of July, 1833, and died April 8, 1899. His pare'its were Joseph 
and Relief (Orduray) Brown. The father was also a native of New Hamp- 
shire and was of Scotch and English ancestry, the family, however, having 
l)eai founded in America at a very early day in the history of the old Granite 
^tate. Josqjh Brown was a prominent lumber manufacturer with e.xtai- 
sive mills on the Merrimac river, where he dealt in masts and spars ;md 
conducted a general milling business, which he superintended until sixty 
years of age. He was then succeeded by his sons, who carried on the busi- 
ness for many years, the enterprise proving a very profitable one. 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 477 

Amos Brown was reared to habits of industr}' and as work was con- 
sidered more important than stndy in those days, his opportunity for ac- 
quiring an education was extremely Hmited, although in the school of ex- 
perience he gained much valuable knowledge. At the early age of ten years 
he began work in the lumber camp and later was employed at driving the 
logs on the river, becoming a hardy, fearless and daring youth. He soon 
excelled in this occupation, became an expert in this line of business and 
was thus enabled to command the highest price for labor of that charac- 
ter. Subsequently he worked in the mills and rose from one position to an- 
other until he was made superintendent and possessed a thorough and prac- 
tical knowledge of the business in all its departments, both in principle and 
detail. Leaving" home at the age of twenty-one years, he followed lumbering 
up to 1858. when the Eraser mines gold excitement broke out, and desirous of 
rapidly acquiring a fortune in the gold fields he left for the northwest, after 
selling his interests in the east. Going to New York he secured steerage 
passage, b}- way of the Isthmus of Panama, to Victoria, British Columbia, 
paying two hundred and twenty-five dollars for a continuous passage. The 
voyage was uneventful save for the discomfort of over-crowded vessels, but 
suffering no accident and little delay, he eventually reached Victoria, there 
to find that the gold bubble had exploded and that the hopes of thousands 
w-ere doomed to bitter disappointment. The town was crowded with suf- 
.'(ring, starving humanity. Disappointed but not disheartened, Mr. Brown 
began looking about for work, and believing that he might utilize his knowl- 
edge of lumliering, he at once sailed for Port Gamble, where he found ready 
employment at seventy-five dollars per month and expenses. Durirg the 
first year he had charge of a logging camp, and then purchased an interest 
in logging teams and secured contracts with the milling companies to furnish 
them with logs. This business he carried on successfully for two years 
and then sold his interest and returned to the employ of the company with 
which he had previously worked on salary. He occupied \arious positions 
of trust until T865. when he resigned in order to visit his nld home in New 
Hampshire. 

In 1859. without \isiting Seattle, Mr. Brown had been induced to pur- 
chase property on Spring street, between Second avenue and the water front, 
and in 1861 he made his first visit to the town. In 1863, in connection with 
M. R. Maddocks and John Condon, he built the old Occidental Hotel, on the 
present site of the Occidental block, and this hotel was conducted for two 
years by Messrs. Maddocks, Brown & Company, at the end of which time he 
sold his interests to Jnhn Collins. In September. 1867, following his visit 



478 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

to his old home in New Hampshire, Mr. Brown returned to Seattle and 
entered into partnership with I. C. Elhs, of Olympia. He conducted a hmi- 
ber business in that city until 1882 and was very successful in the conduct 
of the enterprise, a Inrge lousiness bringing to him an excellent financial 
return. For ten years he was in ])artnership with Mr. I-Lllis and after that 
was alone. In 1882 he sold out and from that time until his death prac- 
tically lived retired, merely giving his supervision to his invested interests, 
which, owing to increased values and extensive operations in real estate, 
had grown to considerable proportions. I'p to the time of his death he re-, 
tained large interests in Seattle property, in addition to having extensive 
tracts of timber land in several counties adjoining the sound. 

In his political views Mr. Brown was an enthusiastic Rqjublican and 
ill his early life was an active participant in political work, doing everything 
possible to promote the success of his party and secure the adoption of its 
principles, but in later years he left the party work to younger men. He was 
very public-spirited and co-operated in many movements and measures for 
the general good and for the improvement of Seattle. He served the com- 
munity in various positions of responsibility and no trust reposed in him 
was ever betrayed to the slightest degree. He served as a member of the 
city council and for two years was a state ofificial, acting as a director of the 
Steilacoom Insane Asylum. He was most generous and benevolent, his gen- 
erosity amounting almost to a fault. Any tale of distress awakened his ready 
sympathy and was immediately followed by an impulse to assist in any way 
which he could. 

In the fall of 1867 Mr. Brown was united in marriage to Miss Annie 
M. Peebles, a native of New York, and the same fall they erected their 
cottage on the corner of Front and Spring streets, which district was then 
almost an unbroken wilderness. In the family were five children : Alson 
L.. of the firm of Kinnear & Brown, real estate agents of Seiittle; Brownie, 
the wife of K. M. Kinnear, her brother's partner; Ora, Anna and Helen, 
.ill at home. The children were provided with liberal educations and the 
success of the father enabled him to leave his family in independent finan- 
cial circumstances. Mrs. Brown has erected a magnificent residence in 
one of the best districts of the city and this handsome abode is celebrated 
for its attractive social gatherings. 

When death claimed Mr. Brown, one who knew him wrote of him: 
"In the passing awav of Amos Brown the sound country loses one of its 
best pioneer citizens. For over forty years a citizen and actively identified 
as he was with the growth of the coiintr\-. his death cannot be considered in 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 479 

any other light than as a loss to the cuninuinily. He was pul>lic-spiiite(l and 
interested in any movement for the promotion or advancement of measures 
for the general good and he was scrui)ulously honest and upright in his deal- 
ings with his fellow men. The punctual liquidation of a debt or obligation 
was one of the cardinal principles of his character. Liberal and benevolent, 
he was well known for his generosity, yet his giving was always without 
ostentation or display. When but a boy he exhibited this same generous 
spirit and kindly solicitude for others, and often when wet, r(jld and hungry 
himself, he would carry wood and food to a poor widow, who lived neighbor 
to his parents, before providing for his own comfort. He alwavs t<ii)k a lively 
interest in young men and aided many in securing positions where they could 
advance their own interests through diligence and ability. In the early days 
of his residence in the northwest he was known as the friend of the Indians 
and as he never took advantage of them or betrayed their confidence he was 
loved and trusted by them. He always had a kindly feeling for the vmfor- 
tunate and erring and often when men were arrested for vagrancy or trifling 
ofifences he secured their release, pledging himself to furnish them employ- 
ment and become responsible for them. It is pleasing to know that his kind- 
ness was appreciated and seldom abused." Fraternally Mr. Ihuwn was con- 
nected with the .\ncient Order of L'uited Workmen, but he had feu ties of 
that character. He found ample opportunity to do good through other 
channels, and many ha\e reason to remember him with gratitude and love. 
He belonged to that band of strong, self-reliant, energetic and coiu'ageous men 
who laid the foundation for the wonderful development of the northwest, and 
Mr. Brown also lived to take an active part in building the super.structure of 
the great commonwealth through the advancement of one of the leading cities 
west of the Rockies. 

ROBERT WOOD. 

For nearly a score of years Mr. Wood has been identified with mercan- 
tile activities in Renton. .md ihiis mav well he considered one <>t the pioneer 
merchants of the city, where he located when it was but a small hamlet, and 
where he has contributed his due (|uota tu the legitimate ad\ancement of 
public and commercial interests and has built up one of the most important 
business enterprises in the place, the same ha\ing had a modest inception 
but having expanded in scope and importance with the growth of the town; 
and now it stands a credit to the able and discriminating meth.ods brought 
to bear and bespeaks that unswerving integrity and honor through which 



48o REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

alone are begotten puljlic conlidcnci; and supvioit. Sucli is Mr. Wood's posi- 
tion in the community that he is peculiarly entitled to definite consideration 
in this compilation, whicii lias in do with tlie representatvc men of King 
county. 

Mr. \\'"ood is a native of Xorllmmberland, England, where he was born 
on Christmas dav of the year iX_^r), coming of stanch old English stock. His 
parents, William and Catherine (Tate) W'ooil. were born in the same section 
of the fair English isle, where the father was engaged in mining during the 
greater portion of his active business life, having been a man of true Chris- 
tian piety and noble character and ha\ ing instilled into the minds and hearts 
of his children the valuable lessons of honesty, industry, sobriety and integ- 
rity. To th.e precepts and examples of his honored parents the subject of 
this sketch feels that iie is indebted for all that he has made of his life, and 
that it has been a worthy one mme who know him can deny. The mother 
of our subject passed away in her sixty-hrst year and her husband at the age 
of sixty-two, and of their two sons and fnur daughters Robert is the only 
rqiresentative in the state of Wasliingtun. 

Robert Wood was reared and educated in iiis native land, where he de- 
voted his attention to agricultural jjursuits until coming to America. In 
Northumberland county. England, was solemnized his marriage to Miss 
Susan Henderson, who was bom in the san.ie parish as he was, and in 1882. 
in company with his wife and their ten children, he came to America, be- 
liexing that here were to be found better opportunities for the attaining of 
success through individual effort and that here wider advantages would be 
afforded his children. The\- proceeded at once to the state of Texas, where 
Mr. Wood was engaged in the sheep business for two years and also in farm- 
ing, but his success was of a rather negative order and he finally disposed of 
h.is interests in the Lone Star state, whence he came directly to Renton, Wa.sh- 
ington, where he opened a small grocery store, the town having then l)Ut few 
inhabitants. With the eia of development and prosperity his business grew 
in scope and soon demanded larger quarters, while the careful and honorable 
methods have continued to hold to the establishment a representative patron- 
age. To pass through the connnodious and well equipped department store 
now conducted by Mr. Wood and his sons, it would be difficult for the aver- 
age observer to jjelieve that the business had been de\eloped from so small a 
nucleus, for the establishment would do credit to a much larger cit_\-. Four 
stores are utilized in the .accommodation of the enterprise and these afford a 
frontage of one hundred feet, with a large floor space, while all classes of 
merchandise demanded bv the trade of Renton and its triliutarv territory are 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 481 

handled, tlie stock Ijeiiis' at nil times select .-ind comprehensive in the various 
departments. 

As his able coadjutors in conducting the business Mr. Wood has his 
three sons, William, Edward and Joseph, and they are known as active and 
capable young business men. sharing m the esteem which is so unifoi'mly 
accorded their father. The other children are : Susan, the wife of Robert 
Harris, of San Diego. California; Annie, the wife of John Marlow, of Ren- 
ton; and Catherine, Jxichard, Mar}-, Ellen ,ind Kol)ert, who remain at the 
parental home. Ihe fauiih' all hold niemlwrship in the Christian cliurch, 
of which Mr. Wood has been for many years an official, while he has also 
rendered most effective and devoted service as Sunday-school superintendent, 
having' l>een a deacon of the church prior to his removal from England, while 
his interest in the cause of religion and morality has ever been shown by 
goodly words and deeds. His sons have made an excellent business record 
and enjo}' the good will and esteem of the people of the community in which 
they have so long maintained their home and in which they have ably co- 
operated with their father in the building up of a successful and noteworthy 
business. Mr. ^Vood has from time to time made investments in local real- 
ty and is the owner of a number of \aluable properties in the town to whose 
upbuilding and material advancement he has so largely contributed. He has 
a high apjjreciation of the dignity of honest toil, and with him character is 
the significant thing, not mere wealth or social prestige, which are so often 
the result of fortuitous circumstances. He takes a proper interest in public 
affairs of a local nature and is one of the representative citizens and business 
men of Renton, which now holds precedence as one of the attractive and 
prosperoits little cities of the beautiful Evergreen state. 

ERANK M. DUGGAN. 

The sul)ject of this sketch, one of the best known lumljernien on Puget 
Sound, was I)orn in Gardiner, Maine, September 22, 1856. He came from a 
pioneer family, his father having resided at Gardiner for many years. Mr. 
Duggan came to Mendocino county, California, in 1874, and for one year 
worked in the woods of that state. Coming to Washington in 1875, he was 
for six years in the employ of W. S. Jameson of Port Gamble, one of the lead- 
ing loggers of the state. The five years following he had charge of the oper- 
ations of the Pacific Boom Coinpany on the Skagit river. Locating in Seat- 
tle in 1893 'i<^ h^-'' since followed continuously the occupation of log scaler 
until to-day he is probably the best known scaler on the sound. 



482 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

In adciition to the work in scaling-, Mr. Duggan in conjunction with 
Messrs. William and Hugh Studdert and M. F. Brown estahlished the Seattle 
Tug Company, of which Mr. Duggan Ijecame manager. This company 
operates hoats on the sound, engaged principally in towing logs, and has 
huilt up a most profitable and successful business. Mr. Duggan can ])oint 
with pride to a proof of his well known integrity and fairness, in this, that 
there is .scarcely a mill or logger in the state who will not accept his scale with- 
out f|uestion. 

In iS86 he was married to Miss Kathryn Kiernan of Fort Gamble. 
Thev have one child and reside on h'oinleenth avenue in Seattle. Mr. Dug- 
gan is a firm believer in the future greatness of his city and state, and evi- 
dences the fact by judicious investments in real estate. 

.MII.rON DENSMORE. 

The fitting reward of a well spent life anil useful business career is re- 
tirement from labor so that in a season of rest one may enjoy the fruits of 
former toil. This has been vouchsafed to Mr. Densniore, one of the early 
settler.-^ of Seattle. He avrixed in this cit\ on the 2jd of December, 1872, 
and from that time to the iirescnt has taken a deej) and liel])fnl interest 
in its welfare and progress. 

Mr. Densmore was born in Chelsea, \ ermont, October 30. 1839, and is 
of Knghsli lineage. Joel Densmore, his great-grandfather, emigrated from 
England to Deering, INIassachu.setts. and Henry Densnjore. the grandfather, 
was born there. He became one of the first Methodists living in that part of 
the countrv and was a man of considerable prominence and infiuence in his 
communitv. His son, William Den.smore. was united in marriage to Miss 
Lydia .\nn Davis, who was born in Chelsea and was the daughter of Nathan- 
iel Davis, descended from an old .\\-\v i-'.ngland family. I'.y trade he was a 
stone niason, and in religious faith was a Methodist. To llie parents of our 
subject were born four sons: Jason, now residing in llano\x'r, .^Jew Hamp- 
shire; William, of Royalton, Vermont, Milton; and Colonel Edson S.. 
vonngest of tb.e familv, ior twenty-one years served as officer and usher in 
the e.xecutive mansion, Washington, D. (.: he died during Harrison's ad- 
ministration. The mother died in 1854. and the father passed away in 1858. 

Milton Densmore was educated in the iniblic schools of Chelsea, Ver- 
mont, and was reared upon his father's farm, working hard in the summer 
months runid field ami nicadow, wliile in the winter seasons he pursued his 
.stud-es. P)V fbe lime he was nineteen vears of age he had lost Iioth of his 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 483 

parents, and since that time lias prox iilcd entirely for liimselt. As the archi- 
tect of his own fortunes he has JjuiUled wisely and well and deserves greai 
credit for what he has accomplished in the business world. He continued 
to work upon the home farm until the 1st of September, 1862, when he vol- 
unteered for service in the Union army as a member of Company D, Twelfth 
Vermont Infantry, and was with the First Army Corps in the anny of the 
Potomac. He was in the battle of Fairfax Courthouse and Rappahannock, 
and also in the great decisive battle of the' war at Gettysburg, escaping 
without injury in that sanguinary strug'gle where so many brave soldiers 
fell, although he was in the thickest of the tight. His brother Jason, wdio 
\\as a meml)er of the Tenth Vermont Infantry, was wounded in the hi]) 
at Petersburg. Mr. Densmore's term of enlistment having expired, he rc- 
enlisted in October, 1863, and from orderly sergeant was promoted to the 
rank of second lieutenant of the company. After this the regiment was 
held in reserve in Vermont until the close of the war. He returned to his 
home a veteran and victor and resumed the peaceful vocation of farming. 

In the year 1867, however, Mr. Densmore left New England and re- 
moved to Beloit, Wisconsin, where he was married on tlie 25th of Sep- 
tember, 1867, to Rosamond S. Merwin. They lived in Beloit until 1871, 
at which time they came to Seattle, bringing with them their first-born child, 
Herbert Milton, who was the joy of his parents' hearts for twelve years and 
then passed to the home beyond. James Worth, their next son, was Ixirn 
in Seattle, received an excellent education and is now a jjrofessor of music ; 
on the 28th of August, 1901, he married Miss Olivia C. Peck: they are 
prominent young people of the city and have many friends. 

After his arrival in Seattle Mr. Densmore aided in laying tiie first 
iron rail in the Puget Sound country. After a short time he engaged in 
steamboating for the Seattle Coal Com|)any, as captain of the Ada and other 
steamboats, being connected with that work for four years. He then opened 
a grocery store at the corner of Union and Third streets, conducting that 
enterprise for twelve years, meeting w ith gratifying success, a^ liberal pat- 
ronage being accorded him. He safely passed through the hard times and 
had the satisfaction of being able to pay one hundred cents on the dollar when 
many men were forced into financial ruin \)y the stringency of tlie money 
market at that time. 

Mr. Densmore has been a life-long Republican and served for tw'o terms 
on the Seattle city council, while for seven years he has l>een a member of the 
school board. He has always taken a deep interest in the educational ad- 
\ancement of the city and his efforts in this direction have not been without 



484 REPRESENTATIVE CTITZENS OF 

result. In 1891 he built the pleasant and commodious home in which he is 
now living with his family, spending the evening of a useful, active and hon- 
orable life there in practical retirement from labor. He and his wife are 
members of the Congregational church and he is a member of the Masonic 
fraternity, having been made a Mason in George Washington Lodge No. 51. 
E. & A. M., in Chelsea, Vermont, in i860. He is also a charter member of 
the Grand Army, Stevens Post, of Seattle. A loyal soldier, a faithful and 
enterprising citizen, a reliable business man. a trustworthy friend, a devoted 
husband and father and a consistent Christian. — such is the life record of 
Milton Densmore. 

1R\ INC; T. ALVORD. 

Ir\'ing T. Alvord is one of the native sons of Washington ami for a 
number of years has been prominently identified with the interests of King 
county. His well directed efforts in the practical affairs of life, his capable 
management of his l)usiness interests and his sound judgment have brought 
to him a handsome property, and his life tlemonstrates what may l-.e accom- 
plished by the man of energy and ambition who is not afraid to work and has 
tlie perseverance to continue his labors in the face of seemingly discour:ig- 
ing circumstancs. In all the relations of life he has commanded the respect 
and confidence of those with whom he has been brought in contact, and the 
history of King county would be incomplete without the record of his career. 

Born on his father's farm near Kent, W'ashington, on the 6th of August. 
1865. Mr. Alvord obtained his elementary education in the public schools of 
that place, after which he received a four years' course in the W^ashington 
State University at Seattle. Returning to Kent in 1886, he worked one year 
for his father, after which he started for himself as a renter. Although Mr. 
Alvord is now possessed of a two hundred and seventy acre farm, and i>wns a 
dair}- of two hundred and forty cows, he still rents two large farms in con- 
nection with what he has. He early made dair}-ing his specialty, although 
doing some general farming on the side, and from a paltry begining has built 
up a handsome business, whose general sales exceed twenty thousand dollars 
per year. 

Mr. Alvord is possessed of great determination of character, and is 
essentialh- a self-made man. He was married at Kent in 1891 to Miss Dora 
M. Jones, a native of Georgia. Two children have graced this union, Eugene 
and Dorothy. Mr. Alvord is a public-spirited and progressive citizen, and 
has at all times a sincere interest in the welfare of his fellow man. 



i SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 485 

WILLIAM J. COLKETT. 

The name of William John Colkett has been inscribed high on the roll of 
Seattle's honored pioneers and eminent citizens, and the part which he has 
taken in the development of the city well entitles him to prominent mention in 
this volume. During tjie past twenty years he has held the position of assis- 
tant postmaster of Seattle, and throughout this long period his fidelity to the 
public trust in the discharge of his official duties has been most marked. Mr. 
Colkett was born in Burlington county, Xew Jersey, in 1857, and is of Eng- 
lish and Scotch ancestrj'. but for six generations members of the family have 
resided in the United States. Joseph Colkett, the grandfather of our subject, 
was a native of New Jersey, was a life-long farmer, and was one of the prom- 
inent early Methodists. His son, Goldy Colkett, was born in Burlington 
county. New Jersey, and was there married to Miss Mary Ann Engle, also a 
native of Burlington county, and they were ^vorthy and consistent members 
of the Methodist church. He was a painter and decorator by occupation and 
was called to his final rest at the age of sixty years, and his wife reached the 
age of sixty-four years, when she, too, was called to the home beyond. This 
worthy couple became the parents of five children, but only two of the number 
still survive, the daughter being Sarah, now the wife of J. S. W. Shelton of 
Shelton, Mason county, Washington. 

W^illiam J. Colkett received his early eilucation in the schools of his 
native county, and later supplemented the knowledge there gained by a one 
year's business course in the Uriiversity of Washington, he having been the 
first male graduate of that institution, the year of his graduation being 1880. 
His father had settled in Washington in 1866, and on the 3d of November. 
1876, he joined the family in this state, making the journey by rail to San 
Francisco, and thence by boat to Port Madison. In the town of Coupeville 
he at once secured employment in the store of Major Haller, in which the 
IX)stoffice was also located, and it was there that he first became familiar with 
the duties of that position, continuing in that capacity for two years. After 
the completion of his business course in the university he had charge of the 
postoffice of this city for five months during the absence of the postmaster, 
and for a time thereafter he clerked in the store of Corliss P. Stone. From 
that time forward he was employed at inter\-als in the office, each time re- 
ceiving a raise in his wages, and he finally became a pemianent employe there- 
in, in which he has acted in every capacity with the exception of that of letter 
carrier. W^hen he first assumed the duties of his present position the ofiice 
was allowed twenty-seven dollars a month for clerk hire, and Mr. Colkett re- 



4«6 REPRESENTATIVE CTITZENS OF 

cei\e(l tlie entire aniounl. he performing the entire work in the otitice, includ- 
ing that of sweeping the Hoor. Close study has given him a keen insight into 
the important duties of his position, and he has literally "grown up"' w ilh the 
office and is now the able assistant of this great office, with its immense husi- 
ness and its many clerks and letter carriers. He has witnessed the growtii 
of Seattle from a town of thirty-six hundred inhabitants to one of over one 
hundred thousand, and during this time he has labored to goodl\- end^ ,ind is 
leaving the impress of his indi\-iduality upon the ])ul)lic life, the substantial 
growth and the material development of the city. 

The marriage of Mr. Colkett was celebrated on the 28th of .\ugust. 18S4. 
when Miss Clara E. Lombard became his wife. She is a native of ^Taine and 
SL (laughter of R. R. Lombard, who came to Washington in i860. Thex' 
have four children, Emory E.. Marion L.. William J., Jr., and Burton R. all 
born in the pleasant home in Seattle which their father erected about seven- 
teen }ears ago. Although Mr. Colkett \\as reared in the faith of the Dem- 
ocracy he now votes independently of party tics, casting his ballot in fa\iir of 
the men whom he regards as l)est qualified to fill positions of tnist and repons- 
ibility. The cause of education has ever found in him a warm friend, and fi>r 
six years he has ser\ed as a member of the school ))oard, wliile for two years of 
that time he was president of the board. He aided materially in the erection of 
the .school buildings, one hundred rooms having been added during" his two 
terms of office, and was active in adding to the city schools the department of 
manual training. For a number of years he lias alsci lieen an acti\e member 
of the chamber of commerce, of which he is now a trustee. In his social 
relations he is a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, while 
religiously he is a member of the I'"irst P>a])tist church. Deviation to his 
famih' and friends, fiflelit}' to e\ery trust reposed in him and adxocacv of all 
that. tends to benefit mankind. — these are the salient characteristics of William 
J. Colkett. 

HARRY R. JACOBS. 

Throughout his entire life Harry R. Jacobs has been a resident of tlie 
Pacific coast, and he is now accounted one of the substantial and enterprising 
citizens of King county. His integrity and uprightness are beyond {|nestion. 
and every public measure ha\ing for its object the betterment of mankind in 
general and this state and \icinity in particular is cert.iin to receixe his earnest 
support. 

Me was born near Salem. Oregon, on the jd of October. 1864 When 
but t'our vears of age he accomjianied his ])arents on their remoxal to Seattle. 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 487 

Wasliington. and to the puljlic scliool system of tliat city lie is indebted for 
tlie early educational advantages which he enjoyeil. Later, however, he be- 
came a student in the Washington State University, lea\ing that institution 
at the age of twenty years. After putting aside his text books, he served a 
two years' apprenticeship at the plumber's trade, while for the succeeding 
four xears he followed that occupation as a journeyman. His father. Judge 
Orange Jacobs, a well known pioneer of King county, purchased in i88.:| a 
small farm in the White river valley, near Kent, as a home for his family, and 
since 1894 our subject has made his home thereon, devoting his time and at- 
tention to general farming and fruit-raising. In political matters he exer- 
cises his right of franchise in support of the men and measures of the Repub- 
lican party, and is an active and influential worker in its ranks. For a num- 
ber of years he has .served as a delegate to the nominating conventions, while 
for a pericKl of seven years, he was school clerk of school district No. 12. For 
two years he was also a member of the drainage commissioners for drainage 
district No. i. of King county. Thus it will be seen that he has long been 
identified with the public interests of the county, :md he stands to-day as one 
<if its most honored and highly esteemed citizens. 

The marriage of Mr. Jacobs was celebrated in Seattle in 1894. when Miss 
Helen K. ^'oung became his wife. She is a native of Nova Scotia, born in 
1874, and since 1890 she has been a resident of Washington. Three children 
have come to brighten and bless their home, Lucinda Margaret, a maiden of 
six years; Rolland Da\enport, a promising lad of three years; and Helen 
June, a babe of one year. The home of Mr. and Mrs. J.icnbs is an attractive 
one. and their numerous friends are always made welcmue. 

HENRY FUHRM.XN. 

Fn the extension of Seattle's boundaries and the inipn ixenicnt nt its i)rop- 
criy interests a number of business men ha\e been concerned, .\mong this 
number is Henry Fuhrman, who has platted one of the additions to the city 
aiid who in the control of his real estate interests has manifested marked busi- 
ness ability and executive force. He was born in Germany in 1844. belong- 
ing to one of the old families of that land. In his native country he acquired 
his edu.cation and then when nineteen years of age crossed the .Atlantic to the 
new uorld. believing that he might have better business o])portui1ities in this 
country where labor is not hampered by caste or class but where every avenue 
is open to diligence and enterprise. He located in Fremont, Nebraska, and 
he not only bad no capital but had \ery little knowledge of the language of 



488 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

his adopted couulry. lie followed the Union Pacitic Railroad to Ogden, 
selling goods along the line and meeting with fair success in his undertaking. 
He then (jjjened a store in Fremont, Nebraska, where he conducted a success- 
ful mercantile business for twenty years. The enterprise constantly grew in 
\olume and importance until he found himself at the head of a large whole- 
sale drygoods business, and he left Fremont with a comfortable fortune. 
l'"rom there he came to Seattle in 1890 and invested in Seattle real estate, pur- 
chasing an undivided half interest in one hundred and sixty acres of land on 
Lake Union. The Denny-Fuhrman addition was then platted by our subject 
and Mr. 1). T. ]3enny, and Mr. Fuhrman still has a large amount of the 
property, which has greatly increased in value since he made the original in- 
vestment. From the time of his arrival in Seattle he has been engaged in the 
improvement and sale of his property and his interests are now valued at two 
hundred thousand dollars. 

Mr. Fuhrman was married in Chicago in 1873 ^^ Miss Carrie Mayer, a 
native of (lermany. He has erected one of the nicest homes in Seattle, where 
he now resides in the enjoyment of desen-ed peace and plenty. In politics he 
is a Republican and is a citizen of high integrity of character. In youth and 
manhood many a man has been buffeted by fortune, and almost unsunnount- 
able obstacles have seemed to stand in his path, but ijerscverance has over- 
thrown these and the man has gone forward to siTCcess. Such has been the 
history of Henry Fuhrman, who, at the time he attained his majority, came 
to the new world empty-handed and to-day is classed among the substantial 
citizens of the northwest. 

FRANK A. HILL. 

The lineage of the subject of this review, who is supernitendent of the 
Renton mine, l)espeaks lung and prominent identification with the annals of 
American history, while representatives of the name have shown that intrin- 
.•^ic loyalty and patriotism which has led them to take an active part in the 
great conflicts through which the re]niblic was established and has been per- 
petuated. Mr. Hill has been conspicuously identified with the development 
and management of intlustrial enterprises in this state and elsewhere, is an 
expert in the line of his profession and is one of the distinctively representa- 
tive citizens and l>usiness men of Renton, being thus peculiarly entitled to 
definite consideration in a work of this character. 

Mr. Hill is a native of Iowa, having been born in the city of Muscatine, 
on the 2Qth of June, 1852. He comes of old Puritan stock, the original 




o^' (P'^^Z-r^eA^ 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 489 

American ancestors having taken up their abode in the New England colonies 
long prior to the war of the Revolution and being of English lineage. Mem- 
bers of the family rendered valiant services as soldiers in the Continental line 
during the war of the Revolution, and the name has been one of prominence 
in New England for many generations. The maternal grandfather of (jur 
subject was a sea captain, and he was lost at sea while on active duty as an 
officer of a sailing vessel. Sylvester G. Hill, the father of Frank A. was 
born in the state of Rhode Island and married jNIartha J. Dyer, a native of 
Maine. He was a millman and cabinet-maker by vocation, having been the 
owner of a sawmill and a door and sash factory in Iowa, where he had taken 
up his residence about the year 1849. At the outbreak of the war of the 
Rebellion he was one of the first to tender his services in defense of the Union, 
in response to President Lincoln's call for volunteers, enlisting as a private in 
an Iowa regiment and being elected captain of his company. Later he was 
appointed colonel of the Thirty-fifth Regiment of Iowa Volunteer Infantry. 
He participated in the Red river campaign and the siege of Vicksburg, and 
was with General Banks in pursuit of General Hood through Missouri. He 
was bre\-etted major general for brilliant services and met his death in the bat- 
tle of Nashville. His cherished and devoted wife survives him. having now 
attained the venerable age of eighty-four years, and at the time of his death 
she was left with eleven children, all of whom are living except one and all of 
whom give their loved and noble mother that deep filial solicitude which is her 
just clue. The only representatives of the family in the state of Washington 
are the subject of this sketch and his sister Susie, who is the wife of Her- 
bert F. Clough, of Seattle. 

Frank A. Hill was but twelve years of age at the time of his father's 
death, and his early education was obtained in the public schools of his native 
town, after which he took up the study of mining and civil engineering, in 
which he became thoroughly qtxalified, and he has successfully followed his 
profession in Iowa, Illinois, Texas, Kansas and Washington, gaining marked 
prestige by reason of his exact technical and practical knowledge and his ex- 
cellent administrative ability. He was the civil and mining engineer for the 
Oregon Improvement Company at the time of the Seattle fire and had charge 
of all its construction, having come to Washington for the purpose of taking 
charge of its work. In Iowa Mr. Hill was superintendent of mines for the 
.•\merican Coal Company, and later held similar relations with the Oregon 
Improvement Company, .the Western American Company and Eureka Com- 
pany, finally entering the employ of the Seattle Electric Company, which now 
owns the mines at Renton. His experience has been wide and varied and his 



490 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

citDi'ts have been altended with tlie most satisfactory results in the various 
connections where his able services have been enlisted. He became superin- 
tendent of the Rente m mine in Sc|)lcmber. 1900, and during his regime he has 
increased its output irum litl\- to live hundred tons per day. This was ilie 
iirst coal mine to be opened in the state of Washington and it is still one of 
the most imptirtant in this section of the Union, liaving two veins, — one of 
six and one-half and the other of eight feet, and the product is a fine lignite 
coal. 

^Ir. Hill, who is familiarh' known as "Captain Hill,'" is a wortlu' and 
appreciative member of the Masonic fraternity, having been raised to the sub- 
lime degree of Master Mason in St. Andrew's Lodge No. 35, A. F. & A. M., 
of Renton. and taking a deep interest in its affairs. He has been a member 
of the Ancient Order of United Workmen for the past twenty years, while 
his political procli\itics are indicated in the staunch support which he accords 
to the principles and policies of the Republican party, thougii the honors and 
emoluments of public office have never appealed to him and he has never held 
i:)olitical preferment in this line. 

January 29, 1S74, Captain Hill was united in marriage to Miss Mary 
Martin, who was born in Ohio, and departed this life in March, 1890, leaving 
one daughter, Clara A., who is now the wife of U. S. Personus, of Seattle. 
Mrs. Hill was a devoted wife and mother and had won the warm regard of a 
wide circle of friends, having been a woman of gentle and gracious refine- 
ment. In 1891 Mr. Hill consummated a second marriage, Miss Ella Martin. 
a sister of his first wife, being his choice, and they are the parents of four chil- 
dren, — Frank A., Hester, Leonora and Hobart W. Mrs. Hill presides with 
gracious dignity over the attractive home in Renton and taken a prominent 
])art in the social actix'itics of the cit\', being also a zealous mem1)er of 
the Methodist Episcopal church. The Captain is honored for his sterling 
characteristics and his marked ability and is recognized as one of the most 
l)rominent citizens of Renton and as one whose efforts have contributed not a 
little to the industrial prosperity of the city and county. 

CONFUCIUS L. WAYLAND. 

In a rapidly growing country like the United States the term pioneer 
is subject to changed conditions, and c'\n only be correctly used in a com- 
parative way. In long settled comnumities like many in Virginia and the 
New England states the pioneer is necessarily a thing of the past. There are 
none living, and those who first settled figure onlv in tradition or historv. 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 491 

As advance is made into such states as Ohio and Kentucky either the first 
settler has passed away or he is apt to he an old man. Not so in new cities 
of yijung states like Washington. There the pioneer may see himself lion- 
oretl at the "old settlers' meetings" though still a young man. These re- 
flections were suggested hy the transcription of the name at the head of this 
paragraph. Although Mr. W'ayland is still in middle life and though he 
first came to Seattle only twenty-two years ago, he is entitled to rank as an old 
settler. When he arri\-ed Seattle had a population of only thirty-six hundred. 
There was but one street, and it was only cleared as far north as Pike, and 
Second avenue was only a wagon trail. -Everything was new and raw. and 
while with zeal characteristic of pioneers all looked forward to the time 
when Seattle would lie a great metropolis, there was as yet little on which to 
base such a prediction. Mr. Wayland, therefore, has during his residence 
of a little over a score of years seen substantially the whole growth of Se- 
attle from a country town to the dimensions of a bustling capital, already en- 
joying the title of Queen City of Puget Sound and promising t(.) reach pre- 
eminence in the oriental trade over all the cities of the Pacific coast. 

Mr. Wayland is a native of what they call over in Indiana "the state of 
Boone," a locality celebrated in the dialect poems of James Whitcomb Riley 
under the pseudonym of "Benjamin F. Johnson." He is descended from a 
family which produced Francis Wayland, author of a political economy, 
whose father emigrated with a brother to this country from England and 
were of German descent. The last mentioned of these Ijrothers was the 
great-great-grandfather of Confucius 1,. The latter's great-grandfather, 
though the son of a sla\e holder, was opposed to the "peculiar institution." 
and in order to get rid of the infamy removed from Virginia to Kentucky, 
refusing to inherit any slave or slave-made wealth. During the subsequent 
■conflicts over this question leading to the Civil war the W^aylands were all 
found on the side of the abolitionists and the Union. George W. Way- 
land, grandson of the Virginia emigrant above mentioned, was born in 
Kentucky and followed the trade of harness-making, though he sold books 
and stationery in his later years. In 1858 he crossed the Ohio into Indiana, 
which was at that time decidedly raw and wild for a place of abode, as none 
of the splendid internal improvements which afterward gave the state such 
pre-eminence had as yet materialized. The newly arrived Kentuckian lo- 
cated in Boone county, where he took a strong stand against the upholders 
of slaverv, copperheads, secessionists and all this kind of disloyal citizens. 
He served as postmaster of the town, and during the war. being physically 
incapable of going to the front, did good service as enrolling officer for the 



492 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

go\ernment. He was a religious man and active as a leader in the Metho- 
dist church, in which he was usually one of the members of the board of 
trustees. He married Nancy Kcllcy. daughter of a veteran soldier of the 
Civil war, by whom he had four children. 

Confucius L. W'aylaml, }-oungest of this family and the only son, was 
bom at Jamestown, Indiana. January 4. 1859, and besides the "little log 
schoolhouse" had the benelit of attendance at the Normal Institute in Dan- 
ville. His first venture on his own account was as teacher of a school in 
northwestern Illinois, which occupation he continued until his mind had 
been made up to try his fortunes in the northwest. It was in 1881 that he 
first appeared at Seattle, and shortly afterward he became a student in the' 
law ofiice of Stru\-e, Haines & Leary. This novitiate was followed in due 
time by courses at the Nati(;nal University in Washington, D. C, and the 
post-graduate law course in Georgetown University, D. C, his degree of 
Bachelor of Laws being received in i88g. In 1885 he had taken the civil 
service examination and was the tirst to receive a position in the classified 
service from Washington territory. In 1886 he was appointed as one of the 
clerks in the First Assistant Postmaster General's office, and since then has 
jjcen connected with the postofhce department in one capacity or another. 
As postofiice inspector he laegan tra\eling from Washington, D. C. over 
Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and North Carolina, in 1890, 
then from Helena, Montana over Idaho, Montana, North Dakota and South 
Dakota until 1897. then from Spokane, Washington, which last division 
comprises Alaska, klaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington. He has visited 
neirlv every locality in the states of the Helena and Spokane divisions 
which has a postoftice, and many which are without that indispensable agent 
of civilization. For seven years he averaged fifty tiiousand miles annually 
in Alontana, North Dakota and Idaho, about three thousand of which were 
traveled in stage coaches. He has made nine round-trips to .Alaska and 
visited seventy widely scattered offices in that remote territory. In 1899 he 
went from Valdez, Alaska, to the Yukon river on horseback, the first horse- 
back trip made from tide water to the Yukon on American soil. .\n evidence 
of the rapid growth of Seattle is furnished by the fact that when Mr. Way- 
land first came here he for a while relieved the fomier postofhce clerk and 
carried on the business of the ofiice during the afternoons without assistance. 
At the present time this same postoffice has one hundred and sixty employes. 

On June 28, 1882. Mr. \\'ayland was married to Aliss Helen, daughter 
(if the late Jolm K. Hall, member of the surveyor general's staff, at Olynipia, 
and bv this union there are three children : Russell G., a student at the State 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 493 

University; George Hall, in Seattle high school; and Margaret. .Aside from 
his official business Mr. Wayland has made considerable investments in real 
estate, some of which has been imi)ro\-ed by building, and he also owns farm- 
ing propertv in King and ^Vhatcom counties. 

ALVIN M. HEMRICH. 

Practical industry wisely and vigorously applied never fails of success. 
It carries a man onward and upward, brings out his individual character and 
powerfully stimulates the actions of others. It is this unflagging spirit of 
industry that has laid the foundations and built the commercial greatness of 
the northwest, and the career of him whose name intiates this paragraph illus- 
trates most forcibly the possibilities that are open to a young man who pos- 
sesses sterling business qualifications, and it proves that ambitious persever- 
ance, steadfast purpose and indefatigable industry, as combined with the ob- 
servance of sound business principles, will eventuate in the attaining of a defi- 
nite and worthy success. Mr. Hemrich, who is president and manager of the 
Hemrich Brothers Brewing Company, an important industrial enterprise in 
the city of Seattle, is a young man of singular force of character and one who 
stands representative of that insistent and well directed energy which has 
brought about the development of the magnificent metropolis of the north- 
west. That he should be accorded specific mention in a work of this nature 
needs not be said. 

Alvin M. Hemrich was born in the town of Alma, Buffalo county, Wis- 
consin, on the i4tli of February. 1870. a son of John and Catherine (Koep- 
pel) Hemrich, both of whom were born in Germany. The father was for 
many years engaged in the brewing business at Alma, Wisconsin, and he was 
seventy-three years old when he died, while his w'ife is still living, \lvin 
passed his boyhood days in Wisconsin and secured his early educational dis- 
cipline in the public schools. At the age of sixteen he assumed charge of the 
business founded by his father in Alma and conducted the same for two years, 
becoming thoroughly familar with all details pertaining thereto. -\t the ex- 
pir.'ition of the period noted he engaged in the brewing business on his own 
responsibility in the town of Durand, Wisconsin, and there he successfully 
continued operations until the year 1890, when he disposed of his interests 
and came to Seattle, where his parents had located some time previously. 
After his arival in Washington Mr. Hemrich proceeded to Victoria. British 
Columbia, where for two' years he held the position of manager of the \'ic- 
toria Brewing Company. He then returned to Seattle and became foreman 



494 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

for the -Mbert ISraun lorewing Association, retaining tliis incumbency one 
}ear, when the business was closed out, and lie then took a similar position 
with the Bay View Brewing Association, in whose employ he continued for 
four years, being finally compelled to resign by reason of failing health, and 
he then passed some time in travel, principally in California. After recuper- 
ating his energies through this period of rest and recreation Mr. Hemrich re- 
turned to Seattle and here purchased the plant and business of the old Skjrah 
brewery, located on Howard a\-enue, between Republican and Mercer streets, 
and there he conducted business for six months, at the expiration of which lie 
became associated with his brother Louis, of whom mention is made on an- 
other page, and with Julius Damns, in the organization of the Hemrich 
Brothers Brewing Company, which was duly incoq^orated under the laws of 
the state on the 4th of February, 1899, and under the effective management 
of these interested principals the business has been built up to a most success- 
ful standpoint, the equipment of the plant being of the most approved modem 
type, while every detail of manufacture receives the most careful and discrim- 
inating attention on the part of our subject and his brother, both of whom are 
experts in this line of industry. The result is that the products of the brew- 
ry, including lager and porter, are of exceptional excellence, thus gaining a 
popularity which augurs for the increasing expansion and growth of the busi- 
ness. From the brewery are sent forth each year about thirty-five thousand 
barrels, and in the prosecution of the business in its various departments em- 
ployment is afforded to a corps of about seventy-five capable workmen 
None but the best material is utilized in the processes of manufacture, the 
malt being secured from Wisconsin and California, and the hops being the 
most select products from Bohemia and from the state of Washington, whose 
prestige in this line is well known. The present company have made import- 
ant changes in the equipment of the plant, having installed the latest im- 
proved accessories and having greatly augmented the productive capacity. 
Alvin M. Hemrich has been president of the company from the time of its 
organization, and the success of the enterprise is in large measure iluc to his 
able and well directed efforts. In November. 1901, ]\Ir. Hemrich effected 
the purchase of the property of the Aberdeai Brewing Company at Aberdeen, 
this state, and he began the operation of the plant shortly afterward, having 
organized a stock company, which was incorporated with a capital stock of 
sixty thousand dollars, he himself being president of the company. 

^Ir. Hemrich is well and most favorabh known in connection with the 
business activities of the city of Seattle, and is esteemed as a straightforward, 
capable business man. He has made judicious investments in local real estate 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 495 

and is one of tlie most loyal admirers and enthusiastic citizens of his adopted 
city. His beautiful residence, which he erected in 1898, is located at 503 
ilelrose avenue, and is one of the most attractive of the many fine homes 
for which Seattle is justly noted. Fraternally Mr. Hemrich is identified 
with the Sons of Hermann, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Fra- 
ternal Order of Eagles, the Red Men, and the Benevolent and Protective 
Order of Elks, wliile his wife is a member of the Rebekah lodge of the Odd 
Fellows. Mr. Hemrich enjoys marked popularity in both business and social 
circles, being a man of genial presence and unfailing courtesy in all the rela- 
tions of life, and his home is one in which a refined hospitality is ever in dis- 
tinctive e\idence. On the 8th of May, 1890, Mr. Flemrich was united in 
marriage to Miss Minnie Rutschow, who was born in Germany, being the 
daughter of Charles and Minnie (Benecke) Rutschow, both of whom were 
horn in Prussia. Mr. and ]Mrs. Hemrich ha\e two sons, Elmer E. and 
Andrew L. 

THOMAS E. JONES. 

Seattle is proud to name as one of her citizens Thomas E. Jones, who 
IS engaged in contracting, pile-driving and wharf-constructing on a large 
scale, having successfully done work for some of the largest concerns in that 
city. He was born in Livingston county, Illinois, August 2, 1856, a son of 
Thomas A. and Minerva (Darnall) Tones, nativ'cs of New Jersey and Ken- 
tucky, respectively. The maternal grandfather of our subject was one of 
the early pioneers of Illinois, \'an Buren M. Darnall, and he had the dis- 
tinction of being the first white settler in Livingston county, having re- 
moved to that county some years before the Black Hawk war. Here he 
lived for many years, and at the time of his death was one of the best known 
and most highly respected citizens in that portion of the state. Thomas A. 
Jones removed to Livmgston county in his youth, and here grew to man- 
hood. Successful in business, Mr. Jones also turned his attention to poli- 
tics, and became well known and honored among the politicians of the coun- 
ty. In 1883 he moved to Seattle, where he invested in real estate, and in 
partnership with his son, Thomas E., engaged in the wholesale ice business. 
This proved to be amply remunerative until his death, which occurred in 
October, 1895. ^i^'^- Jones died November 11, 1902. 

Thomas E., the only son in a family of four children, was reared in his 
native county, and received his education in the schools there, later attend- 
ins: the state normal school. He eaHv became associated with his father in 



496 REPRESENTATIVE CTITZENS OF 

business, and il is In this close intimacy with his father both in business and 
private life that Mr. Jones attributes his business success. A relationship 
existed between them ^vbich is as rare as it is sweet, and which could not but 
insure a strong and noble character. Mr. Jones is extensively engaged in 
contracting for pile and wharf work, and has performed a great deal of the 
important work in that line for the Centennial Mill Company, the Stetson 
Post Mill Company, the Seattle Electric Com])any. He built the Yesler 
wharf both before and after the disastrous fire of 1889, and in fact has done 
a great majority of the work in that county, not excluding Moran's work. 
Mr. Jones is as well known in political circles as in business life, and this 
is saying mucii. In 1888 he was elected to the city council, serving until 
1890. He served as chairman of the street committee, and for four years 
was one of the fire commissioners. He has always followed the time-hon- 
ored customs of his fathers in \(,)ting for the Democratic candidates in na- 
tional affairs, but is liberal and independent in matters of local significance. 
Mr. Jones purchased his present residence at 315 Blanchard ax'enue in 1886, 
where he has a comfortable, moilern home, in which much taste and good 
judgement are displa)'ed in the ])lain though comfortable furnishings. He 
also owns several fine farms in different portions of King county, which are 
well impro\ed and highly cultivated. December 25, 1876, was a fitting day 
to celebrate the marriage of Thomas E. Jones to Clara \^incent, daughter of 
Mrs. T. D. \'incent, of Livingston county, Illinois. To them have been 
born five children, as follows: Lilla \'., Olive E., L. Dee, Carl H. and 
Thomas C. Mr. Jones' popularity is e\inced by the many friends he has 
made, and his home is the center of a cultixaled and refined circle, which 
widens daily. 

\MLLL\M STANLEY. 

William Stanley is the senior member of the firm of William Stanley & 
Company, in which he is associated with his son, Samuel L., and they are 
prominent and well known railroad contractors and brokers. They also have 
large mining interests in .\laska, and are numbered among the successful 
business men of the northwest. 

William Stanley was born in county Limerick. L'eland, in 1844. being a 
son of John and Catherine ( l.ochlin) Stanley, both also natives of the Em- 
erald Isle and devout members of the Roman Catholic church. In 1850 they 
emigrated to ^\merica, bringing with them their three children, two sons and 
a dauGfhter, and a location was made at Potsdam. St. Lawrence countv. New 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 497 

York. The father was a prominent educator and also a musician of ability. 
His life's labors were ended in death in 1859, when sixty years of age, and he 
was survived by his loving wife until 1874, when she. too. was called to the 
home beyond. 

^\'illiam Stanley was but six years of age when he was brought by his 
•parents tu the L'nited States, and his education was obtained in both Canada 
and New York. He became proficient as a blacksmith and machinist, fol- 
lowing his trade in Canada and many cities of the United States. When he 
w as but se\'enteen years of age the great Civil war was inaugurated, and in the 
defense of his adopted country he enlisted in Company D, Tenth Regiment 
Ohio Volunteer Infantry, but was shortly afterward transferred to an engineer 
and machinist's company and sent to Chattanooga, where he remained until 
1867, at which time he received an honorable discharge. After the close of the 
struggle he returned to Cincinnati. Ohio, where he worked for a time at his 
trade, and for three years thereafter was engaged in setting up machiner}' in 
Memphis, Tennessee. Removing thence to St. Louis, Missouri, he there 
purchased land and received contract work from the Northern Missouri Rail- 
way Company, after which he was employed by the Chicago, Burlington & 
Quincy Railroad Company at Burlington. Iowa, continuing work along the 
line of its construction to Lincoln, Nebraska. 

In Montgomery county, Iowa, in 1869, Mr. Stanley was united in mar- 
riage to Miss Sarah E. Baker, a native of that county and a daughter of 
Judge Samuel Baker. After their marriage they removed to Phillips county, 
Kansas, wdiere our subject acquired and improved one hundred and sixty 
acres of land, and there made his home for eighteen years. On the expira- 
tion of that period, in order to give his sons better educational facilities, he 
removed to Odell, Nebraska, which continued fts their place of abode until 
January, 1890, when they came to Seattle. After his arrival in this city Mr. 
Stanley at once resumed work at his trade, thus continuing for the following 
five years, when the family removed to Honolulu, where he received the con- 
tract for grading the road bed from that place to Wynona, and after a resi- 
dence there of eighteen months they came again to this city. In March, 
1896. ^Ir. Stanley and his son followed the gold seekers to Alaska, going by 
the Chilkoot pass, thence by sleds to the foot of Lake La Barge, where they 
erected boats and went down the Stewart river, and later to the mouth of the 
McQuestin river, where they worked the bars for a time, but without success. 
Tn the following August they resumed the journey down the river to the 
Klondike, where they immediately staked claims, their nearest supply point 
being at Fortv ]\Iile. fiftv miles distant. The thermometer then registered 



498 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

from sixty to eighty degrees below zero, ami they built large fires in order 
to thaw out the ground, which \vas so frozen that it was unnecessary to erect 
props and they drifted to the bed rock in safety. They took out large quan- 
tities of gold, and in June, 1897, they began the homeward journey, bringing 
wMth them their treasures. They still own their mines there, which have ever 
since been profitably worked, and it will be many years before their rich de- 
posits are exhausted. Forty men are employed in working their claims and 
two large steam plants are used. Mr. Stanley is a man of exceptional busi- 
ness ability, and in all life's relations he merits the confidence w-hich is so 
freely accorded him. 

The marriage of our subject and wife has been blessed with eight chil- 
dren, namely: Margaret, the wife of John Price; William C, who is en- 
gaged in business with his father and brother in this city; John the time 
keeper for the firm of William Stanley & Company; Elizabeth, the wife of 
^fark Finney, of Seattle; Sarah, the wife of William Murphy, of Dawson; 
and Ida and Joseph, who are attending school in Seattle. 

Samuel L. Stanley, the junior member of the firm of William Stanley & 
Companx-, was born in Phillips county, Kansas, in 1874. He learned the 
machinist and blacksmith's trade under his father's careful guidance, and 
since then he has been his father's companion and partner in all his business 
undertakings. He is one of Seattle's bright and promising young men, and 
the success which has attended this firm is due in a large measure to his intel- 
ligent and untiring efforts. He was married in September, 1899, to Miss L. 
M. Roljinsnn, and the family are members of the Roman Catholic church. 
They have a beautiful summer home on White Point, at the Port Orchard 
Narrows. They have a wide circle of friends in this city, and wherever 
kniiun they are held in the hightest esteem. 

HENRY A. BODE. 

The great (iernian empire has contri1)uted a \'ital and signihcanlly \al- 
uable element to the complex fabric of our social makeup, and as a worthy 
representati\e of this sterling class we refer to the gentleman whose name 
initiates this paragraph and who is now living retired in the city of Seattle, 
where he was for many years a representative and honored business man, 
being engaged in the merchant tailoring business here. He is a man whose 
integrity has ever been beyond ca\il and his entire business career was one 
which reflected credit upon him and showed tlie dominating elements of in- 
flexible honor, steadfastness of purpose and marked ability. Sucli men are 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 499- 

certainly worthy of consideration here, and this brief review will be read 
with pleasure by the many friends and accjuaintances of Mr. Bode. 

Henry A. Bode, whose residence is located at 927 Seventeenth a\"eiiue, 
was born rn the beautiful old city of Hanover, Germany, on the 15th of 
.April, 1848, being the son of John H. and Dorothea (Bachholtz) Bode, both 
of whom were bom in Hanover, as was also John A. Bode, the grand- 
father of our subject. John H. Bode held a position under the crown, hav- 
ing been inspector and overseer of government roads ; the duties involved 
the construction and care of the public roads and the planting of trees along 
these thoroughfares. He passed his entire life in the fatherland, where his 
death occurred in the year 1878; his wife passed away when Henry A. was a 
lacl of fourteen years, he having been one of ten children, of whom only- 
four survive, namely : Dorothea, who is the wife of John Hagen, of Ham- 
burg, Germany; Franz, a resident of Davenport, Iowa; Henry A.; and 
Mary, the wife of August Struck, of Davenport, Iowa. 

Henry Bode remained at the parental home until the death of his 
mother, when the members of the family became separated by the breaking 
up of the household and he was thus early forced to assume the individual 
responsibilites of life at the age of fourteen years, his educational advan- 
tages having been such as were afforded in the schools of his native city. 
For two and one-half years he was employed on a farm and at the expiration 
of this interval he entered upon an apprenticeship at the tailor's trade. He 
thus served an apprenticeship of two and one-half years, becoming a capable 
workinan, and thereafter he was employed as a journeyman until he had at- 
tained the age of twenty-one years, when he entered the German army as a 
member of the Second Guard, with which he served three years — from 1869 
to iS/2 — in the city of Berlin, having been an active participant in the 
Franco-Prussian war. He was then discharged and thereafter was em- 
ployed at his trade in Berlin until the j6th of .-Vpril. 1873. when he took 
passage from Hamburg to New York, from which latter city he proceeded 
to Davenport, Iowa, where his brother and sister had previously located. 
He there worked at his trade for one year, within which time, on the 14th of 
September, 1873, he was united in marriage to Miss Augusta Drebusch, 
who was born in the province of Brandenburg, kingdom of Prussia, Ger- 
many; in the spring of 1874 they removed from Davenport to Wisconsin, 
where they remained six months and thence to Keokuk, Iowa, where they 
made their home for an equal period, thereafter passing a year in Iowa City, 
another year in Council Bluffs and thence remo\-ing to Dunlap, Iowa, where 
Mr. Bode was employed as cutter in the merchant tailoring establishment 



500 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

of M. Barrett. He next came to the Pacific coast and accepted a position 
as cutter in the house of John Reed & Sons, of Market Place. San Fran- 
osco, wlicrc he reiiiaincd until Septemher, 1882. the date of his arrival in 
Seattle. 

Here he engaged in the merchant tailoring husiness (jn his own respon- 
sibility, establishing his headquarters in the Alayham building in l-Vont 
■street, where he remained se\eral years, securing an excellent supporting 
patronage. He then removed his business to the Drew building, between 
IMarion and Columbia streets, and thence to the corner of Madison and 
Front streets, where he remained until the memorable and devastating fire 
swept the city in 1889, and at this time, as was the case with most of the busi- 
ness men of the city, he met with heavy loss, his tine stock of goods being 
destroyed and the business being left in chaotic order. Not disheartened 
by this disaster. Mr. Bode resumed business, opening the same in a tent, 
which was located in Spring street. l)etween .Second and Third avenues, and 
this constituted his store and shop for a ]ieriod of one )-ear. during which 
he transacted an extensive and lucrative business, ha\-ing taken in as high 
as nine hundred dollars in a single month. He catered to the most discrim- 
inating and rej)resentati\'e patronage, producing only the best class of work 
and employing as many as twenty-six workmen, at wages of from twenty- 
five to thirty dollars each per week. The showing, considering the rather 
primitive headquarters maintained, was certainly noteworthy, and the pres- 
tige which Mr. Bode enjoyed gave evidence of popular appreciation and 
confidence antl offered distinctive testimony as to his abilities in connec- 
tion with the sartorial art. He eventually secured more available quarters 
in Columbia street, betw-een Second and Third avenues, where he remained 
about four years, then removing to the Kenyon block, in Front street, where 
he was in control of a large and profitable business until the failure of the 
Seattle Savings Bank, in which he met with the loss of ten thousand dol- 
lars which he there had on deposit, the outcome being that he was com- 
pelled to sacrifice other interests, involving a total loss of fully forty thous- 
and dollars. .Since that time Mr. Bode has not been regidarly engaged in 
business, though he has still retained valuable property in Seattle and con- 
tinued to make this his home. He has passed some time in Colorado and 
other sections of the west, w.'is for one year engaged in husiness at What- 
com. Washington, but for the last year he has been practically retired from 
active business. 

In politcs Mr. Bode gi\'es his allegiance to the Republican i)arty so 
far as national issues are concerned, luU in local affairs he maintains an 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 50 1 

independent attitude, supjiorting men and measures as his judgment dictates, 
ratlier than being guided along strict partisan lines. Fraternally he is 
identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and in both busi- 
ness and social circles he is honored as one of the worthy citizens of Seat- 
tle, where he has maintained his home for a score of years. Mr. and Mrs. 
Bode are the parents of three children, namely : Elsie, who is the wife of 
John Bayne of Seattle: INlartha, who remains at the i)arental home; and 
Henry A.. Jr., who learned the tailor's trade with his father and is now 
engaged in business in \\'hatcom, this state. 

SAMUEL LAFROM BOISE. 

From the age oi thirteen years Samuel Lafromboise has made his own 
way in the world and he has truly -won the proud American title of a self- 
made man and deserves -the credit and distinction which this term implies. 
He was born at Pembroke, Ontario, Canada, January 3. 1858. His father, 
Nicholas Lafromboise, was a native of the same province, born in 181 1, and 
was engaged in ihe lumber Inisiness in Canada from 1854 until 1864, when 
he remoxed to Winnebago county, Wisconsin. There he took out natural- 
ization papers in 1865, thus becoming a citizen of the Union. He bought 
a farm there and continued in this occupation until his death, which oc- 
curred in 1S69. In early nnanhood he had wedded Alary Jane Blakely. who 
was bom in Londonderry, in the north of Ireland, and is now deceased. 

Samuel Lafromboise was only about six years of age when the family 
removed to Wisconsin, and there in the public schools of Winnebago coun- 
ty he continued his education until he reached the age of thirteen years. 
Upon the death of his father it was necessary that he should begin earning 
his own livelihood and he secured employment in the lumber business, by 
which means he was enabled lo support his mother, his sister and his young- 
er brother. After reaching manhood he held responsible positions, such as 
foreman with the Pioneer Lumber Company at Eau Claire, Wisconsin, also 
foreman with the Doby Brothers Lumber Company of Haywood, and the 
Chipaway Lumber Company. In this way several years were passed and he 
became thoroughly conversant with the lumber trade and contributed not 
a little to the success of the firms which he represented. 

When Mr. Lafromboise arrived in Washington he was employed as 
timber cruiser for the St. Paul Lumber Company of Tacoma for one sum- 
mer. Later he came to Enumclow, and secured a timber claim near the 
town. This he proved up and later sold it to the White River Lumber Com- 



•S02 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

pany. In January, 1(^97, he Innlt a small hotel, and in December, 1898, lie 
erected a large two-story building, which is now used as a public hall and a 
saloon. In 1902 he erected a handsome three-story hotel building which 
under his management has proved of benefit to the place of his residence, 
lie was a stockholder and an acli\e memlier of the Enumclaw Improvement 
Company, which existed from 1802 until 1894. and had an option on sixty 
acres of the town site for a number of years. This company erected sev- 
eral buildings, including a large creamery. On settling up the affairs of 
tlic lm])nivcmenr Comi)any. when it went out of business, the creamery 
building was purchased ])\ V. O. Xickerson and Mr. Lafromboise. but in 
the spring of 1902 this building was destroyed by fire and our subject soon 
afterward sold the ground to the White Ri\er Lumber Company. His 
principal business of recent years has Ijeen dealing in realty and he has 
owned and is still the possessor of valuable property here. 

On the 3d of September, 1891. in Enumclaw.'occurred the marriage of 
Mr. Lafromboise anil Miss Susan Calhoun, who was born in Scotland No- 
vember 1. 1871. and came to this place in 1889. Her father. James Calhoun, 
w;is superintendent of coal mines in Scotland, and filled similar positions, 
but he died in Enumclaw in 1895. His widow. ]\Irs. Elizabeth Calhoun, 
after residing for eight years in Enumclaw. retin-ned to Glasgow. Scotland, 
where she died in 1901. To Mr. and Mrs. Lafromboise have been born 
four children, namelv; Guy Nicholas, James (ieorge, Arthur Adams and 
Samuel Blakley. Mr. Lafromboise endorses the Republican party, believ- 
ing that its principles are best calculated to conserve the general welfare 
of the nation. He is identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows 
and with the Red Men of this place. His success in life may be attributed 
to a determined pursuit of luisiness and to the fact that he is a man of hon- 
•esty and integrity. 

JOHN V,'. PETER. 

John W. Peter was born at Metropolis City, Illinois, November 4. 185 1. 
His father, R. A. Peter, was born in Kentucky, but for sixty years has made 
his home in Illinois, where he is now living at the advanced age of eighty- 
four. Through a long period he carried on merchandising and to a con- 
siderable extent followed farming, gaining a good living through these pur- 
suits. LTpon the breaking out of the Civil war he raised the One Hun- 
di'ed Thirty-first Illinois Infantry and with the command served almost un- 
til the close of hostilities, when the reeiment was consolidated with another 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 505 

aiul lie was discharged on account of disability. Throughout his connec- 
tion witii the army he held the rank of Heutenant-colonel, and was a brave 
and loyal officer, whose own valor inspired his men to deeds of courage. 
He has sen-ed as justice in Massac county, Illinois, being the first one to 
occupy that position there. While in Kentucky Colonel Peter was united 
in marriage to Miss Amanda C. Proffit, a nati\-e of Tennessee, and they be- 
came the parents of twehe children, six sons and six daughters, of whom 
five sons are yet living. James A. was a captain in the war, being commis- 
sioned before he was of age. 

John W. Peter pursued his education in the public schools of his na- 
tive state, and with the desire to enter professional life he determined to 
engage in the practic of law and began reading in the office and under the 
direction of Judge John R. Thomas, who is now serving on the bench in 
Oklahoma. Air. Peter was admitted to the bar in Mount Vernon, Illinois, 
in June, 1877, and there began practice, continuing a member of the Illinois 
bar until June, 1889, when he determined to go to Washington. He had 
been quite prominent in public affairs and had served for five terms as city 
attorney in Metropolis City. In 1884 he was elected prosecuting attorney 
of Massac county and filled that position for lour years in a most creditable 
and satisfactory manner. Believing that there were good opportunities in 
the west he came to this state in 1889, locating in Dayton, where he opened 
a law office and engaged in practice for the following seven years. Again 
he was recognized as a prominent local leader of the Republican party and 
was made the party's nominee for the oftice of prosecuting attorney, but that 
was the year of the Populist successes and he failed of election by ninety- 
eight votes, although he ran ahead of others on the ticket. 

In 1897 Mr. Peter came to Ballard, where he has engaged in practice 
continuously since. He made a specialty of criminal law while in Illinois. 
but since coming to the west has engaged in general practice. He has 
gained a good clientage here of a representative character and has con- 
ducted important litigation. He has also done considerable real estate and 
insurance business and has bought and sold considerable land and improved 
property, both on bis own account and for others. In igoi he 
erected his present residence at 26 East State street, and in 1902 he erected 
the Peter-T.ucas building in connection with J. E. Lucas. Mr. Peter was 
nominated on the Republican ticket for the office of county assessor for 
King county, and at the November election in 1902 he was elected by a 
majority of 5,862 votes over his opponent, and is now serving his first term 
of assessor of the largest county in the state of Washington. 



504 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

\MiiIe in Jlliiiuis ^[r. J'ctcr was married on the 4tli of November, 1872, 
to J-'rances M. Loving-, and to them were born two children, but both are 
now deceased. Mr. Peter has always voted with the Republican party and 
has attended many of its conventions, his influence carrying weight m its 
councils, lie belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Wood- 
men of the World and the Kniglits of the Maccal)ees. From the age of fif- 
teen years he has been an earnest and devoted member of the Methodist 
church, and has held all of the offices in the church, serving as steward and 
class leader at the present time. lie has also done much to aid the Epworth 
League and to promote Sunday-scliool work, having excellent success in 
interesting the young people in the cause of Christianity and its promotion. 

JESSE K. WHITMORE. 

The ancestPi' of Jesse K. Whitmore, both lineal and collateral, is dis- 
tincti\-ely American, for through many generations the family has been es- 
tablished in this country. John Whitmore, a nati^'e of England, left that 
cduntry in 1635, and braving the dangers incident to an ocean voyage at 
that time, he sailed for the new world and became the progenitor of the fam- 
il\- in America. The family record has ever been a most honorable one. 
The maternal great-grandfather of our suliject. Captain Silas Nash, was a 
captain in the Revolutionary war and proNcd a valiant officer, leading his men 
into many an engagement which contributed to the splendid victory that ulti- 
mately crowned the American arms. 

Seth Hayden Whitmore was born in Oneida county. New York. He 
married Miss !Mabel Xash. and in order to provide for his family he fol- 
lowed the brick and stone mason's trade. In 1837, shortly after the Black 
Hawk war. he left his native home and settled on the plains of Illinois. In 
1873 a bridge on which he was standing fell, and he was killed, being then 
in tlie fifty-ninth year of his age. His wife survi\-ed him and departed this 
life on the 3d of July. 1900, at the age of seventy-eight years. In their 
family were six children, five of whom are yet living. 

Jesse K. WHiitmore. one of these five children, was born in Dixon, Lee 
county. Illinois, on the 27th of September, 1856, and is the only member of 
the family living in W^ashington. He was educated in the schools of his 
native state and after completing his studies he turned his attention to the 
machinist's trade. Thinking he would have better opportunities on the Pa- 
cific coast, he went to California in 18S2, locating in Oakland. He also re- 
sided for a time just across the bay in San Francisco and was engaged in 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 505 

cement work there. Coming" to Seattle he continued in the same Hne of 
business in this rapidly growing and developing city and is the founder of 
the W'hitmore Concrete Company, which is now controlling a large and 
constantly increasing business. This company was established in 1803 and 
he has since been engaged in contracting and constructing cement sidewalks, 
and all kinds of concrete work, having his full share of the business. He has 
met with gratifying success, the secret of which lies in his reliability and the 
excellent work which is done under his direction. 

In 1883 Air. W'hitmore was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Beasley, 
a native of Dubuque, Iowa, and they ha\^e an attractive home in this city. 
Mr. W'hitmore is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and 
in his political views is largely independent, although he has usually voted 
the Republican ticket. He has no desire for ofiice and the demands of his 
increasing business would leave him no time for political work even did he 
care to seek political preferment. In his business career he has always fol- 
lowed the golden rule, and his enterprise and energy have been salient fea- 
tures in his success and prosperity. 

JAMES HART. 

Through nineteen years James Hart has contributed largely to im- 
provement and progress in King county, his acti\it)- Ijeing carried along 
many lines of business that make him worthy of the gratitude, confidence 
and respect of his fellow men. His home is "Summerfield," in Chris- 
topher, but he maintains his oflice in Auburn. Mr. Hart was born in Staf- 
fordshire, England, on the rSth of July, 1S48, but no native son of America 
is more loyal to its best interests that he. His father, George Hart, was 
born in Lancashire, England. March 15, 1816. For over twenty years he 
was a railroad inspector, aiKl later a prominent railroad contractor and for 
years had charge of the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway under the famous 
Thomas Brassey, the father of the present Lord Brassey. Later Mr. Hart 
engaged in railroad contracting on his own account, being thus engaged until 
he retired from active business, in 1880. In that year he retired from busi- 
ness and removed to Southport, Lancashire, England, where he became a 
leader in public affairs, serving as a member of the city council from 1S80 
until 1884. On the ist of June, 1885, he arrived in the territory of Wash- 
ington, and made his home with his son, James, at the present "Summer- 
field" farm near Auburn. There his death occurred in April, 1888. In 

early manhocxl he had wedded Louisa Dainbv, who was born in Stafford- 
32 



5o6 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

sliire, Enoiaiifl. in 1812, their marriage being- celebrated in that country 
alx)nt 1845. ^'rs. Hart '^till sur\ives ber busband and makes her home with 
her (Mily child, James. 

In taking- np the ])crs;on:(l history of Mr. Hart we present to onr read- 
ers the life record of one who is widely known and favorably regarded in 
King county because of \\lr<t lie has accom]ilished for the g-eneral good. 
He was educated in the ci>ninic>n sciiools of his native district and in college 
near Manchester. .\ftcr leaving school in 1862 he served for two years 
as a clerk in the canal deinrtment of the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railroad. 
He was then articled to Mr. Maxwell, an architect and civil engineer of 
Bury. Lancashire. ser\ing the \-cars as a pupil, during which time be ac- 
quired a thorough knowledge of the profession. He then entered the office 
of the Lancashire &- \'orkshire Railroad, where all of the plans and specifi- 
cations for the stations, ware-bonses machine .shops and engine houses, etc.. 
were drawn. He remained in that position for several years, having charge 
of the office under Sturges Meek. Esc|.. chief engineer. Mr. Hart was then 
appointed to take charge of the Iniilding and sanitary improvements in the 
borough of Salford. adjoining the city of Manchester, and was also appoint- 
ed district engineer uf ilie largest di^-ision, Pendleton, under the direction of 
the Salfiird town council. During the seven years in which he filled that 
office he had entire charge of th.e drainage and sewer system, the i)aving and 
flagging of the highways of that district, the construction of new streets 
and the repairing and maintaining of the roads, the town improvenients and 
the sanitarv recon.struction tbrongbovit the entire borough of Salford. He 
was next appointed borough engineer of St. Helens, in Lancashire, having 
control of the streets and highways and of the construction of a large sys- 
tem of tramways, besides repairing an entire system of sewage and drainage 
and town improvements. He .served for seven years in the latter position, 
after which he became an ajjplicant for the office of city engineer of Liverpool, 
was one of the six candidates selected, and was the one finally chosen 
hv a special committee for the ai)pointnient. but in the ratification of 
tlie appointment by the city council he was beaten l)y a small 
majority. He was then oft"ered the ap])ointment by the crown agent 
of the colonies to go to Lagos, on the west coast of Africa, as 
chief civil engineer. He passed the necessary government examination, but 
owing to the objection of his lather to this move he declined to undertake 
this service because of the unhealtbful conditions of Lagos. In 1880 he was 
admitted as associate member of the Institute of Civil Engineers of England, 
and still bolrls his membcrshi]i in that organization. He was also a mem- 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 507 

ber of the IMuniripal and Sanitary Engineers Society of London and tiie 
]\IechanicaI Engineer Society of London and a member of the Liverpool 
Engineering Society. 

In April, 1884, Mr. Hart left his native land lor America. Arriving 
at Tacoma. W ashington, on the 29th of that month, he acquired a tract of 
land in the ^^"hite Ri\-er Valley, in Slaughter, now the Christopher pre- 
cinct, and at once began clearing and impro\ing the land. The town of 
Slaughter, now the city of .\ubum, had not yet been founded. About 1886 
Mr. Hart was elected justice of the peace and has served man}- years in that 
capacity. He has also filled the oPice of .school director for a number of 
years, and the cause of education has found in him a warm and earnest 
friend. \t the time he settled in King county there were few roads cut 
through the timber, and oire had generally to follow the old Indian trails. 
From the first Mr. Hart has devoted much attention to drainage and to the 
construction of good roads in the White river valley. In 1886, when Pierce 
county made an effort to secure possession of the south end of King county, 
he was one of the strongest opponents of the scheme, and at the request of 
county authorities and of John Collins, mavor of Seattle, he went before 
the legislature at Olympia to oppose tbe transfer, and after a bitter fight 
King county succeeded in retaining possession of one of its most valuable 
districts. Road construction and drainage have been the two special sub- 
jects which have elicited jNIr. Hart's particular attention for a number of 
years. He was also instrumental in assisting in the organization of the 
State Dairy Association and th.e King County Horticultural Society, and in 
securing legislation to encourage these industries. For one term he was 
vice president of the State Daini^ Association and was president of the King 
County Horticultural Society in iQOi and 1902-3. The Lake Washing- 
ton canal scheme and the lowering of the lake in order to assist in the drain- 
age of the White river and surroimding \alleys and the reclamation of 
a large area of land, have always claimed a share of Mr. Hart's at- 
tention. He appeared before the L^nited States ri\er and harlwr commis- 
sion to point out the necessity, during the construction of the work, of pvn- 
viding for sufi^icient and capacious outlet for the enormous amount of water 
flowing into the Sound from the south end of King county, which submerges 
that district for many months during the winter. In 1890 he was appointed 
superintendent of the construction of the King county hospital, one of the 
first fireproof constructions in the state, and in the face of numerous diffi- 
culties and objections to the methods of construction, it is now admitted to 
be a first-class, well designed and well built edifice. 



3o3 REPRESENTATIVE CTITZENS OF 

Jn politics Mr. Hart has taken a deep and abiding interest since 1886, 
and mnny times has dehvered campaign addresses in the southern portion of 
the county in behalf of the Republican party and its principles. Yet he 
does not believe it to be the duty of any citizen to adhere strictly to a party 
in the selection of precinct, county or city otillcers, believing that the fitness 
an.d qualifications of the candidates should be the first consideration at these 
times. On the 5tli of Ajiril. iNij4. Mr. Mart was admitted to the bar by 
Judge Langley, in open C(jurt, the examining board being composed of W. 
H. Moore, afterwards superior judge; George Fortson, one of the heroes 
of the Philippine war. who lost his life at Pasig; and E. P. Dole, the pres- 
ent attorney general of the Hawaiian islands. In 1887 'Sir. Hart opened 
an office in Auburn, and since 1894 has been engaged in law practice, having 
secured a good clientage. In the conduct of hi.'» cases he has shown marked 
legal ability and a thorough understanding of the principles of jurispru- 
dence as well as careful preparation. He is the oldest business citizen of 
.Auburn, his connection witli the town being antedated only by the \\'. R. 
Ballard family, who were the founders of the town. Mr. Hart has labored 
most earnestly for the welfare, improvctnent and progress of tliis i)lace. He 
prepared the plans lor the .Auburn school building and also for the Presby- 
terian church, and he likewise made the plans for the school buildings at 
Pialschie and Des Moines, and lor the Presbyterian church at Kent. He 
has ever taken a deep interest in lucational matters in this county, realizing 
how im])ortant is good mental training as a preparation for life's responsible 
duties. 

In 1885. in King- county, occurred the marriage of Air. Hart and Miss 
Eliza Beaumont, who was lx)rn in Kent, tjigland, in 1854. A son, Stanley 
Beaumont, was born to them in t888. and is named for the great explorer 
who is a friend of Mr. Hart. They have also a daughter, Rose Mabel, who 
was born in 1899. Mr. Hart is a member of the Pacific Northwest Society 
of Engineers, also a member of the Seattle Chamber of Commerce, and for a 
considerable time has been employed as the right of way and si)ecial agent 
of the Iroqualmie Falls and White River Company for the great scheme of 
utilizing a considerable portion of the stream of White River near Buckley 
as the means of generating electricty for power and lighting purposes. Lake 
Lapp's area having been acquired as the reservoir for storage purposes. It 
is e.xpected that this great piant of sixty thousand horse power will be in 
operation in about two years and will have cost over two million dollars in 
its construction. It would be difiicult to find in King county, among those 
whose- residence extends over no greater period than that of Mr. Plart, one 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 509 

wlio has done so much practical work for tlie iniprovenient, progress and pro- 
motion of this section of the state. His knov\ledge of civil engineering and 
his recognition of the possibilities of land through the agency of improvement 
and cultivation, have made his labors of the greatest value in public work, 
while as an architect he has done much to promote the pleasing conditions of 
various towns throughout this localit}'. He came to America determined that 
in the opportunities of the northwest he would find a good business opening 
and he has done so. He possesses strength of character as well as sterling- 
purpose and his career has ever been such as to commend him to public con- 
fidence. 

ALBERT J.^MES GODDARD. 

.-\!bert James Goddard, who since 188S has been a resident of Seattle, 
is well known in business circles of the city. He was born in Muscatine, 
Iowa. July 15, 1863, and on both sides of the family is of English lineage. 
After accjuiring his preliminary education in the public schools he enteretl 
the Norton Normal Academy and afterward continued his studies in the 
Agricultural College of Ames. Iowa. Subsequently he became connected 
with the crockery business, representing upon the road a crockery' house of 
Minneapolis. He was thus engaged until 1S88, when he came to Seattle, 
and since that time he has been associated with manufacturing interests, 
having with his brother established the Pacific Iron W'orks in Fremont. 
This entire district \vas largely covered with stumps for miles in every direc- 
tion, but it has grown to be an important part of the great city of Seattle. 
The brothers established their iron plant, towing the timber across the lake 
with which to erect the building, that being the only way to obtain the ma- 
terial at that time. Although they began operations on a small scale, they 
greatly increased their facilities to meet the growing demand of the trade, 
and their btisiness has now been incorporated under the name of the Pacific 
Iron Works. In 1897 Mr. Goddard went to Alaska and became a pioneer 
steamboat man on the L'pper Yukon river, and to him is due the credit for 
opening navigation there, at the time his efforts creating much excitement 
and enthusiasm. He carried the mail upon his first voyage and on reach- 
ing Dawson received a great welcome. He had transported the mail from 
Seattle to that place in only ten days, while previously it had required from 
one to two months to get the nirul through. The passengers upon the trip 
joined in writing a letter to him thanking him for opening up the country 
to navigation and saying thev were glad it was an American citizen who 



5IO REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

liad the enterprise to first make tliat trip over the Yukon, and that to him 
was due all honor. Islr. Goddard was so successful in his new enterprise in 
Alaska that his company soon became the owner of four steamlx)ats which 
were operated for two years. Mc then sold out and returned to Se;Utle, 
where he has made extensive in\cstments in improved property in the city 
and is now actively concerned in the work of building and making improve- 
ments. He is a man of resourceful business ability, who looks beyond the 
exigencies of the moment to the possibilities of the future, is quick to note 
an ojjportunity and to utilize it. Furthermore, he is thoroughly reliable and 
his success is justly deserved. 

In 1886 Mr. Goddard was united in marriage to Miss Clara P. Herrick. 
a native of Mount Pleasant. Iowa, and a most estimable lady. She is a 
meml>er of the Congregational church, and Mr. Goddard's religious \iews 
are also in conformity with that faith. He is a member of the Royal .\r- 
canum and of the Hoo Hoos order, which is a society of lumbermen and mill- 
machinerx- men. During his entire residence in Seattle he has taken a deep 
and active interest in all that pertains to the welfare of the city, and his 
efforts have been effective in advancing the general good along many lines. 
In politics he is a stanch Republican and upon that ticket was elected to the 
state legislature in 1895. He has also represented his ward in the city coun- 
cil. While in the general assembly he was active in promoting a large ap- 
propriation for the State University and was largely instrumental in secur- 
ing the passage of a bill prohibiting the sale of liquor within two miles of 
the university. He is a man of broad sympathies, and the poor and needy 
have always found in him a friend. Mr. Goddard is widely and favorably 
known throughout the state, his abilities well fitting him for leadership in 
political, business and social life. The terms progress and patriotism might 
be considered the keynote of his character, for throughout his career he has 
labored for the improvement of every line of business or public interest with 
which he has been associated, and at all times has been actuated •l)y a fidelity 
to his country and her welfare. 

I. W. DAMS. 

A prominent citizen of Tolt. King county. Washington, and one who 
has had a life of varied interest is J. W. Da\is. His father, James Davis, 
was born in Xova Scotia in 1820. of Welsh ancestry, and was reared on a 
farm: on arriving at manhood he learned the ship carpenter's trade, and 
coming to tlie New England coast he followed that trade until his marriage. 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 5" 

in 1854; he tlien moved to Wabaslia county, Minnesota, and settled on a 
farm. In 1879 he went to Atkinson, Nebraska, and was actively engaged 
in fanning until his retirement a feu years ago. lie had married Arina 
W'yman, who was born near Skowliegan, Maine, in 1835; she is of English 
descent. ^ 

Their .son, J. W'., was born in Bear Valley, Wabasha county, Minne- 
sota, on the 19th of January, 1S59. lie obtained his education in the schools 
of Bear Valley, and in 1879 went with his father to Atkinson, Nebraska. 
Here he remained for twelve years, devoting part of his time to farming, 
for two years served as city marshal, and for three years conducted a billiard 
hall ; he was also for .some years ileputy sherifi' and constable. His arrival 
in Tolt, King county, Washington, was in the year 1891, where he and his 
brother. Robert M., carried on a stock and dairy farm until 1899. In 1900 
he opened up his present general merchandise store and has since had a very 
lucrative business. 

In politics Mr. Davis has allied himself with the Republican party and 
has been school trustee and held various minor offices. He belongs to the 
Masonic order at Falls City, and to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, 
the Rebekahs and the Modem Woodmen at Tolt. He was married at Sioux 
Falls, .South Dokota, .A.pril 2, 1879, to Sarah E. Dawson, who was born at 
Sherbrook, Canada, in 1857. and is of Scotch descent. They are the parents 
of five children: Edna E., the wife of Fred B. Bagwell, a farmer near 
Tolt; Carl A.. Blanch Grace, Leonard A. and Nellie M. 

ISAAC COOPER. 

One of the successful men of Washington who has worked his way 
from the bottom up to an honored place in the business world is Isaac Coop- 
er of Issaquah. He was born at Wolverhampton, Staffordshire, England, 
on the 1 2th of January, 1838; his education was what he could receive in 
the schools of his native place until he was eight years of age, and he was 
then put to work in the iron mines. In March, 1870, he came to Belleville, 
Illinois, and worked in the coal mines until 1875, and then came to New- 
castle, Washington, where he was employed in the coal mines up to 1887. 
In that year he came to Issaquah, which has since been his home. He built 
the first house in that place, a frame structure, in which he started a saloon 
and also engaged in real estate transactions until June, 1899. when he took 
charge of the Belleview Hotel ; tliis had been built by Thomas and Mary 
Francis in 1888, and Mrs. Francis afterwards became the wife of Mr. 



512 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

Cooper. Tliis Imtcl was conductal liy liiiii until Febrnan-, 1902, wlicn it 
was leased to James Corbett. 

During his residence in lssa(|uah .Mr. ('ooper has acquired considerable 
real estate. In 1888 he was one of the organizers of the Issaquah Water 
Compan}-, incor])orated In- (ieort^c W. Tihhetts, Thomas Rowlew William 
Moore and Isaac Cooper: in 1901 the greater part of the stock passed into 
the hands of A. B. Stewart and Samuel Stenipson of Seattle, and Mr. Coop- 
er has since been resident manager of the concern. In politics he adheres 
to Repul)lican principles, and is connected with the Knights of I'ythias at 
Issaquah. Mr. Cooper's first marriage occurred in Staffordshire, England, 
in 1864. to Sarah Jones, who died at Issaquah in April, 1899: she left one 
daughter, .Mice M., who married John McEachern. In June, 1900, he 
was again married, to Mrs. Mary Francis. 

JOHN A. McEACHERN. 

Mr. McEachern was born on Prince Edward Island in 1863 ; his father, 
Charles, and his mother. Flora McAulay, were natives of the same place, 
the latter dying there in i8g6 and the former still living on the home farm. 
John was educated in the schools of the island and for three years was a 
teacher there. In 1884 he became station agent for the Prince Edward 
Island Railroad, lioldiug this position for three. years; he then held a similar 
position with the Canadian Pacific at Algoma for two years; and in 1888 
came to Issaquah as station agent of the Northern Pacific, which place he 
held until July. 1894: for two years he engaged in placer mining in the 
Klondike and has since resided at Issac|uah. 

As recorded abo\'e, he was married in 1892 to Alice M. Cooper, and 
they have two children. IMr. McEachern belongs to the blue lodge of the 
Masonic order at Falls City and to the chapter of the same at Seattle; and 
is also a member of the Knights of Pythias at Issaquah. He is one of the 
highly respected citizens of that ]ilace and is interested in everything tending 
to ])romote the welfare of the town. 

DEWITT C. BRAWLEY. 

For a number of years Dewitt C. Brawle\' was numbered among the 
representative citizens and business men of Seattle, and in his death the entire 
community felt that an irreparable loss had been sustained by the public. 
He had been intimatelv associated with several of the leadinn; industries of 




49k '1^^ 



■0!^Jlitfik.i.j 




DEWITT C.BRAWLEY 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 5>3 

the locality, his genius and indubitable talent as a financier and business man- 
ager resulting in the prosperity of these enterprises. His entire career was 
marked l^y signal integrity, justice and honor, and no word of detraction was 
c\-er heard from those who knew him well. 

Air. Brawley was born near Meadville, Crawford county, Pennsylvania, 
on the 3d of May, 1842, and is descended from one of the early and honored 
families of that county. His grandfather James Brawley, was a native of 
Eastport. Pennsylvania, and while engaged in government service he assisted 
in the survey of western Pennsylvania. William Brawdey, the father of our 
subject, had the honor of being the first white child born in Crawford county, 
and he was there married to Miss Jane Stewart, a native of Erie county, 
Pennsylvania, by whom he had five children. He was a farmer and miller 
by occupation, and both he and his wife were valued members of the Metho- 
dist church. For forty years of his life he held the office of justice of the 
peace in his township. His life's labors were ended in death at the age of 
seventy-four years, and he was survived by his loving wife for a considerable 
period, she passing away in her ninety-first year. 

Dewitt C. Brawley received the advantages of a common school educa- 
tion during his youth, and he remained under the parental roof until he at- 
tained to years of maturity. About this time the noted Drake oil well was 
discovered within twenty miles of his home, and in the great oil excitement 
which followed our subject and his brothers began assisting m the construc- 
tion of wells. Later they began operating on their ow^n account, and by their 
industrious and intelligent efforts they became very successful in that line, 
their best results being obtained at Moody's Gulch and at Pit Hole. In 1879. 
William R. Brawley. who was our subject's partner in all his business ven- 
tures, came to Seattle to make investments, purchasing coal and timber lands, 
;ind in 1882 he was joined in this city by Dewitt C, but a .short time after- 
wrird he returned to Pennsylvania to settle up their business in the east, re- 
tu.rning to the Pacific coast in 1889. In the meantime they became largely 
interested in farming land, but during the great fire of 1889 they met with 
severe losses. After the rebuilding of the city they established a brickyru'd, 
and many of the brick houses now standing in Seattle are built from the pro- 
duct of their manufactory. They also platted the Brawley addition to the 
city of Seattle, which has since been sold and improved. In 1887 the broth- 
ers were fortunate investors in oil property near Bowling Green, Ohio, be- 
coming by purchase the owners of the famous Ducat well, which yielded a 
How of two hundred barrels of oil per hour, but eighteen months later they 
sold this well to the Standru'd Oil Comi)anv and retired from the oil business. 



5 '4 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

During the time uf the great hnanciai panic in 1893. in wliich many of the 
.•:nbstantial citizens of the northwest lost their property, the Brawiey brothers 
were great sufferers, but such was the rehability of their character that they 
Mere able to meet their obligations and thus saved much of their property. 
The )ear 1880 witnessed the marriage of Mr. Brawiey and Miss Ella 
Thomas. She is a daughter of George Thomas, of Cambridge Springs. 
Pennsylvania, a prominent farmer and the pioneer manufacturer of cheese 
in that part of the state. This union proved a very happy one, and resulted 
in the birth of two children, both born in Seattle, — Lee J. and Ruth. The 
bon is now a member of the senior class in the Seattle high school, is captain 
of the cadets, and is one of the protnising native sons of the northwest. On 
the 14th of March. 1900, the loving husband and father was called from the 
scene of earth's activities, but his memor}' is still enshrined in the hearts of 
his many friends. In his young manhood he became identified with the 
Masonic fraternity, and throughout the remainder of his life he exemplified 
its helpful and beneficent principles in his every day life. His religious pref- 
erence was indicated by his membership in the Baptist church, of which his 
widow is also a member. He was a man of firm convictions, honest purpose, 
kindly nature and upright life, and the world is better for his having lived. 

WILLIAM F. McN.XTT. 

William Francis McNatt is now the superintendent of the Meadow 
Brook farm at Snoqualmie, the largest enterprise of the kind on the Pacific 
coast, it being devoted to the production of vegetables, butter, cereals and to 
stock-raising, nnc' Mr. McNatt, a practical agriculturist, is well f|ualified for 
the important ;'.nd responsible position which he now fills, tor through many 
years he has been identified with farn:ing as well as other im])ortant business 
interests in this part of the country. 

He is a native son of King county, his birth having occurred at South 
Park August 8, 1862. His father, Francis McNatt, was bom in Knox 
county. Tennessee, April 13, 1820. and was of Scotch lineage, his ancestors, 
however, having come to America from Scotland at an early day, while in 
pioneer times the famdy was established in Tennessee. With ox teams he 
traveled overlanc' to Washington in 1852, making the long journey across 
the plains and through the mountain fastnesses, where the iron road had 
not yet been built, and where it would not be seen for many years to come. 
In the year 1853 he settled at Salmon bay, where he remained for three 
vears and then remm-ed to the Black river \-allev. .At the time of the Indian 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 5>5 

iiprisiiio- jn 1855-56 he served as a volunteer syklier for tlie protection of 
the settlers and the subjugation of the red men. He removed to South 
Park in 1861, taking up his abode upon a farm, and performed the arduous 
task of reclaiming for the purposes of civilization the land hitherto nil- 
known to the uses of the plov.-. He aided in the pioneer develoiiment of this 
part of the country and belongs to that class of sturdy and brave pioneer set- 
tlers who deserve the gratitude of present and future generations for what 
they accomplished in the task of transforming a wild region into a habitable 
one. For some years he served as county commissioner of King county and 
was a prominent and influential citizen. He died at South Park in June, 
1901, and thus passed away one of the honored pioneer settlers, who for 
almost half a century had been a participant in the progress and develop- 
ment of this portion of the state. His wife, who bore the maiden name of 
Ann Burns, was born in county Clare, Ireland, in 1822, and in the year 
1856 came to America, while in 1859 she emigrated to \Vashington and was 
married in Seattle to Mr. McXatt. Her death occurred in Decemljer. 1900, 
about six months before her husband's demise. 

In the public schools of his native town W illiam F. ]\IcNatt pursued 
his preliminary education, which was supplemented by study of the ad- 
vanced branches of learning in the .State University of Washington. On 
leaving school, in 1880. he engaged in farming on an extensive scale, paying 
special attention to hop raising for eight years. This was one of the im- 
portant departments of agriculture in the northwest and his efforts were at- 
tended with gratifying success. In 1888 he engaged in the wholesale liquor 
business in Seattle in company with F. P. Cliriging, luit the following year 
the business was swept away in the great fire which almost destroyed the 
city, entailing a clear loss of twenty thousand dollars to the firm. From 
1892 until 1897 Mr. McNatt was engaged in the operation of a sawmill at 
Auburn, King county, and in the fall of 1897 ^^^ returned to the old farm 
at South Park and established an evaporating plant for the production of 
food supplies in a condensed form for transporting to Alaska. During two 
years he devoted his energies to that industry, and in the fall of 1899 '''^ went 
to the Cascade mountains. There he spent three years prospecting and mining. 
He still holds large interests in promising claims there, inclndng the Gold 
Leaf mine, which is now being developed and is a paying producer. On 
the 1st of December, looi, he was chosen for the important position of 
superintendent of the Meadow Brook farm at Snoqualmie, because of his 
well known ability as a manager and liis thorough imderstanding of agri- 
culture in its various branches. This farm comprises twelve hundred and 



5i6 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

sixty acres of tlic finest land of the state and for mnay years was known 
as the Snoquahnie Hop Farm. The Meadow Brook Company, composed 
of C. H. Hamilton, president, 11. 1'. W'einstein, vice president, W. B. Shaw, 
cliaimian of the board. Mrs. N. S. Smith, secretary and treasurer, and Will- 
iam V. AlcXatt, superintendent, is ra])idly transforming the place into a 
stock and dair_\- farm, des'oting only sixty acres to hop-raising. They make 
a specialty of the raising of Holstein cattle and Poland China hogs of the 
highest grades and are extensively engaged in the growing and packing of 
\egetahles and the manufacture of fancy butter, having warehouses and 
othces in Seattle for the purpose of facilitating shipments. This is the 
largest entei^prise of the kind on the Paciiic coast. System, order and 
method pre\ail in the control of the farm under the management of Mr, Mc- 
Natt. who thoroughly understands the hu-^iness from the scientific stand- 
point as well as the practical, and is therefore splendidh- qualified for con- 
ducting the business. 

In Seattle, on the i,3th of July, 1S90, ]\lr. AlcXatt was married to Ida 
M Dewey, who was born in Indiana hi 1867 and came to Seattle in 1889. 
In his political affiliations Mr. McNatt is a Republican, and fraternally is 
connected with Queen City Lodge No. 10, K. P., of Seattle. From his old 
college days his circle of friends in the state has constantly increased as his 
business interests have widened and his acquaintance accordingly grown, 
and he stands to-day as one of the leading representatives of the important 
work of de\-elo])ing the natn.ral resources of this great state. 

CHARLES VERB. 

In the history of business development and of indixidual achievement 
in the northwest Charles Verd of Fremont is deserving of prominent and 
honorable mention, for with a cash capital of one hundred and fifty dollars 
he came to Washington, and in the development of a lumber business of 
magnitude in this section of the state he has advanced to a leading position 
among the successful business men whose enterprise is leading to the rapid 
growth and improvement of this section of tlie country. The great forests 
of this state furnish ample opportunity for representatives of the lumber in- 
dustry, and the giant trees converted into building materials are now be- 
ing shipped not only to nil sections of the Union, but to foreign countries 
as well. Mr. Verd, as the vice president of the Bryant Lumber & Shingle 
Mill Company, is not only widely known in this state, but also in the east, 
to which district the firm makes extensive shipments. 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 5' 7 

]\[r. Verd \vas born in Ontario, Canada, October 7, 1840, a son of 
Toussaint and Electa (W'aitej \'erd. The father was of French extrac- 
tion and the mother a nati\'e of Albany, New York. By occupation Tous- 
saint \'erd was a farmer and followed that pursuit in Ontario until 1849, 
when he removed to St. Clair county, Michigan, locating in Grant town- 
shi]). where he again engaged in farming. Later, however, he returned to 
the Dominion, but later again he took up his abode in Grant township, where 
he is still living, at the advanced age of eighty years. All of his five chil- 
dren yet survive : Charles, of this review : Thomas, a farmer of Canada ; 
Elizabeth, the wife of M. Nicholson, a resident of Minnesota: Submitta, the 
widow of John McNellis, and a resident of Michigan; and Melissa, the wife 
of Samuel McFarland, of Little Falls, Montana. 

Charles Verd, the eldest of the family, was a child of nine years when 
he accompanied his parents to Michigan. He was reared to manhood on his 
father's farm and in the winter months was employed in the woods in the 
lumbering and logging camps, where he gained his first knowledge of the 
business in which he is now so extensively engaged. On attaining his ma- 
jority he gave his attention chiefly to the lumber trade, and his proficiency 
and experience in that line gained him the position of foreman, in which 
capacity he represented various large lumber companies of Michigan. 

On the nth of March, 1888, Mr. Verd came to Seattle and began log- 
ging on a \-erv extensive scale, purchasing timber and furnishing logs for 
mills and for dealers for four years. At the end of that time Mr. Sanders 
became his partner in one of his camps, Mr. Verd, however, owning two 
others. In 1893 he established the Bryant shingle mill, which is still oper- 
ated as the main feature of the company's business, employing from eighty 
to one hundred men. In 1894 they leased the Fremont mill and after two 
years purchased it. At this mill lumber and all kinds of building materials, 
such as moldings, casings, etc., are manufactured, and the mill has a daily 
capacity of about fifty thousand feet of lumber. In July, 1902, this large 
plant was almost entirely destroyed by fire, only the planing mill being 
saved, but with characteristic energy, indicative of the spirit which ever per- 
meates its business, the company at once began to replace this with a larger 
and more complete mill than the old one, equipping it with the latest im- 
proved machinery for the manufacture of lumber and of their building spe- 
cialties. This company furnished two extremely large logs to the state of 
Washington for exhibit at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago 
in 1893. In the interest of the mill and lumber operations the company 
has purchased large tracts of timber land, a great deal of which has already 



518 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

been cleared, but additional investments in this way are being made fi'oni 
time to time. The mills have also been greatly improved by the introduc- 
tion of new machinery and modern methods, and yet even with the mcreased 
facilities the company has been unable to supply the demands of a constantly 
increasing trade. 

Mr. Verd has also become interested in farming and stock-raising, 
which he has carried on under his personal supervision, and which is also 
a good source of income. He has also erected four residences in Fremont, 
including his own comfnrtalile home. His attention, however, has been 
mainly given to his lumbering business, and he is well known to lumljer 
buyers in the east as well as locally, and the company sustains a very en- 
vi.-ible rejnnation for promptness and reliability. 

In Huron county, Michigan, in January. 1864. Mr. Verd was married 
to Phebe Huffman, who is a native of Canada and of German descent. Si.x 
sons have l)een bom to them : Edward, who is the secretary and treasurer 
of the Piryant Lumber & Shingle Mill Company: Charles, who is the fore- 
man of the Fremont mills: William H., the foreman of the logging depart- 
ment at Bryant: Homer. wIkj is bookkee]:)er for the company in Bryant: 
Frank and b'red, the latter a graduate of Wilson's Business College. Two 
daughters of the family died in infancy. 

In his political views Mr. \'erd is a Republican, and while in Michi- 
gan he took an active part in jMiblic affairs, ser\ing as supervisor of Huron 
township and in other positions of public trust. Socially he is a Royal 
Arch Mason, and his family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, 
of which he is a liberal suj^porter. He is a progressive and public spirited 
citizen, interested in whatever pertains to material development and the so- 
cal, intellectual and moral advancement of his community, and the north- 
west has profited by his labors in her behalf, for while promoting his indi- 
vidual business interests he has also improved the opportunity to labor for 
the benefit of the section of the country in which he makes his home. 

W. E. GIBSON, ^I. D. 

Dr. W. E. Gibson, who is engaged in the practice of medicine in Issa- 
quah and is one of the leading and influential citizens of the town, was 
born in Jefferson county. Pennsylvania, near Punxsutawney. on the 6th of 
Augfust. 1859, ^"d comes of Irish ancestry'. His paternal grandfather. An- 
drew Gibson, was bom on the Enterald Isle and in his lx)yhood was brought 
to America, becoming a resident of the Keystone state in 1795. He died 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. ' 519 

in Indiana county, tliat state, in 1873. His son, V,'. S. Gibson, the father of 
the Dcjctor, was horn in Indiana county January 19, 1822, and followed 
farming in his native county and in Jefferson county, Pennsylvania, until 
1866. when he followed the tide of emigration to the west and became a resi- 
dent of Delaware county, Iowa. There he remained, devoting his energies to 
agricultural pursuits, until 1899, when he came to the Paciiic coast and is 
now spending the eveiing of life in Issaquah in the homes of his sons, W. 
E. and J. H. Gibson. His wife, who bore tlie maiden name of Melinda 
McKee, was born in Jefferson county. Penns}lvania, in 1829, and died in 
Delaware county, Iowa, in 1876. 

The Doctor was only about sc'en years of age when his parents re- 
moved to the west and in Delaware count}- he pursued his early education, 
which was supplemented by study in Hopkinton, Iowa, in Lenox Collegiate 
Institute. In 1883 he went to W'ilsonville, Furnas county, Nebraska, where 
he entered upon the study of medicine in the office of Dr. George P. Shoe- 
maker, and later he became a student in the College of Physicians and Sur- 
geons at Keokuk, Iowa, where he was graduated with the class of 1888. 
He then returned to Wilsonville, where he practiced for a year, and on the 
expiration of that period he came to the northwest, settling at Issaquah, 
where he took charge of the practice of Dr. Shoemaker, his former pre- 
ceptor. For about seven years he was the local physician for the Northern 
Pacific Railroad Coinpany. In 1889 he and his brother, J. H. Gibson, 
opened a drug store in Is«aquah, which they have since conducted, the 
brother practically having charge of that business. 

While in Wilsonville, Nebraska, in the spring of 1888, Dr. Gibson was 
united in marriage to Miss Fannie Garner, who was born in Guthrie county, 
Iowa, and they no.w have two children, Olive and Elry, aged respectively 
eight and three years. In his political views the Doctor is a Republican and 
takes (|uite an acti\e ])art in political affairs here. L'pon that ticket he was 
elected to the office of mayor of Issaquah in 1890 and his administration was 
practical and beneficial. For several terms he has been a member of the town 
council and his labors for the welfare of the town ha\-e not been without 
result. He belongs to the Masonic fraternity, the Independent Order nf 
Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias, the Foresters, the Order of Washing- 
ton and the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and for all of these he is 
examining ])hysician. He has well qualified himself for his professional 
duties and has strict regard for the ethics of the professional code, so that 
he commands the confidence and respect of his lirethren of the medical fra- 
ternity as well as of the public. 



520 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

J. Ti. Gibson, the Doctor's brotlicr and partner, was born in Jefferson 
county, Pennsylvania, April 19, 1864, and witli the family went to Dela- 
ware county, Iowa, in 1S66, there continuing his education in the public 
schools, while spending the days of his minority under the parental roof. 
In 1886 he remoxed to Wilsonvillc. Nebraska, where for three years he was 
engaged in the drug business and in 1889 he came to Issaquah to enter the 
field of mercantile activity here as one of the founders of the Gibson Broth- 
ers' drug store, of which he has since had charge. His patronage has stead- 
ily increased and he conducts a well appointed establishment, neat and at- 
tractive in a])[)earance. lie has been postmaster of Issaciuah for four years 
and has almost continuously been, chosen as a delegate In the Republican 
convention, his opinions carrying weight in the councils of the party. He 
was married in Wilsonville, Nebraska, December 25, 1890, to Ida A. 
McDonald, who was born in ^^"isconsin in 1871, and they have one son. 
Grant M., now eleven years of age. 

WILLIAM H. TAYLOR. 

.\mong the men who came to this country before civilization had ef- 
fected much, and w ho has a fund of interesting experiences of his early life here, 
is William H. Taylor. His ancestors were of the hardy Saxon stock and 
came to the state of Ohio at an early date. His father, William, had his 
birth in Ohio in 1816 and about the year 1850 went to Iowa, where he made 
farming his occu])ation and died in Linn county in 1864; his wife, Hannali 
Wheeling, was l)orn in Ohio on January i, 1819, and is still living at Todds- 
ville, Linn county. 

Their son, W'illiam H., was born in Linn county, Iowa, on the i_nh of 
I'Vbruary, 1853, and was educated in the district schools of his county. In 
1872 he concluded to seek his fortune in the great west and set out for the 
coast, going by the Union Pacific Railroad to San Francisco, thence to Vic- 
toria and Seattle : from here he and D. N. Taylor and family, the latter 
now living at Falls City, made a very difficult ami tedious trip overland to 
the Snoqualmie river, a distance of about fifty miles. At that time the whole 
county was one vast stretch of dense forests and the only roads were the 
Indian trails, thus making communication very laborious, and these pioneer 
settlers found much difficulty in obtaining supplies. For the first eight 
years of his residence in this wild country Mr. Taylor was engaged in operat- 
ing a fleet of canoes along the Snoqualmie river, carrying supplies from 
Snohomish for distribution to the settlers on the river as far as North Bend. 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 521 

a total distance of titty miles ; he hired Indians to paddle and pole the boats 
and to carry them and their freight around the great Snoqualniie falls, the 
trip usually taking about five days. 

In 1880 ]\Ir. Taylor purchased two one-hundred-and-sixty-acre farms 
from Matts and Peter Peterson, who had taken them up as homesteads, and 
here he has since made his home. When the Northern Pacific Railroad was. 
being built, in 1889, he laid out thirty acres of his land in town lots, and 
on this The present town of North Bend was built. From 1880 to i883 
Mr. Taylor was engaged in farming, from 1888 to 1892 he served as one 
of the King county board of commissioners, and in 1895 he established a 
general merchandise store at North Bend, which he has conducted most suc- 
cessfully ever since; he still holds sixty acres of his original land and also 
some valuable timber interests in the mountains. Of the six men who came 
to this region in 1872 only one besides Mr. Taylor is still living. In politics 
Mr. Taylor is a Republican and takes a prominent part in the public affairs 
of his community. 

INGEBRIGHT A. WOLD. 

From the "land of the midnight sun" have come many of the stalwart 
citizens of Washington, men who have bravely met the pioneer conditions 
with their attendant hardships and difficulties, resolutely setting to work 
to overcome these and carrying forward the work of improvement and de- 
velopment until their labors have proved of benefit not only to themselves 
but also to this and to future generations, for their work in reclaiming tiie 
wild districts for the uses of the white man will serve as a foundation for fu- 
ture progress and improvement. Among the Norwegian citizens who have 
been active factors in the business life of the northwest is Ingebright A. 
Wold, who is now living in Issaquah. He was born in Throndhjem, Nor- 
way, November ij, 1841. and is a son of Andrew and Barbara (Delathmit) 
Wold, who were also natives of the same locality. The father was a farmer 
by occupation and followed that pursuit in his native land until his death, 
which occurred in 185 1. His wife long survived him, passing away in 1882. 

Mr. W^old of this review was educated in the public schools of his na- 
tive town. He was only ten years of age at the time of his father's death, 
and when sixteen years of age he entered upon an apprenticeship to the shoe- 
makers trade, serving for a term of five years. He then worked as a jour- 
neyman in Norway imtil 1S64, when he resolved to test the favorable reports 
concerning America arid her opportunities by seeking a home and fortune in 



522 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

the new world. • Accorcling-l\ , in June of that year he sailed for the United 
States and took up his ahode in Chicago, where he engaged in shoemaking 
for a year. 

In the fall of 1865 Mr. Wold went to San Francisco, by way of the 
Panama route and there remained until the following spring, when he ma<lc 
his way northward to Seattle, where in company with his brother Peter he 
established a shoemaking shop on. Commercial street. They secured a stock 
of leather and conducted the only establishment of the kind in the embryo 
citv. The brothers remained in the business for two years, enjoying an 
e.Ntensive trade and manufacturing shoes for all of the pioneer settlers ot 
Seattle and also furnishing shoe supplies to smaller ilealers throughout the 
sound countr}'. In the meantime Mr. Wold purchased a number of lots 
on wliat is now Second avenue and University street and also on Pike street 
and in other parts of the city, making judicious investments in real estate 
when it was sold at a low figure. Some of this he still holds, and it has 
constantly risen in \-akie with the growth of the city until it is now very 
desirable i)ropertv. In the spring of 1868 Mr. -Wold went to the Squak 
vallev, near the head of .Sc(uak lake, where in connection with his two broth- 
ers, Peter and L. A. Wold, he purchased the Welch farm of one hundred and 
sixty acres, for which they paid fi\e hundred dollars. The place was a 
wildemess, but they soon cieared a portion of it and planted a hop field, from 
which they shipped the first hops raised in King county, an industry which 
has since become an important one here. Their shipment was made to 
Seattle and sold to Smek's brewery for a keg of beer. From that time they 
increased their hop-growing interests tmtil they had forty-five acres in hops 
and for several years enjoyed a prosperous business through the produc- 
tion and sale of that commodity. While residing on the Squak valley ranch 
Mr. Wold also conducted a general store, doing a thriving business with 
farmers, miners and Indians of the surrounding country. 

In 1887 I. A. W^old sold his interest in the farm to his brother, L. A. 
Wold, and the same year secured a pre-emption claim oi one hundred and 
sixty acres, on which a portion of the town of Issaquah was afterward built. 
After proving up this property and Iniying the claim, securing his title after 
five years, he platted eighty acres in town lots and sold eighty acres to the 
Seattle Coal & Iron Company, retaining for himself a handsome home in the 
town, with some adjoining farm land. This town will ever stand as a mon- 
ument to the enterprise and j^rocressive spirit of Mr. Wold, whose lalK)rs 
in behalf of the development of this portion of the state have l>een of no 
imimportant character. 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 523 

In Seattle, on the 6tli of January, 1893. Air. Wold was united in mar- 
riage to Aliss Amelia W'aler. who was born in Denmark in 1873, and came 
with her parents to Seattle in 1890. They now ha\e three children: Ida, 
Walter and Oscar, aged respectively nine, seven and four years. Mr. Wold 
belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Issaquah, and in his 
political affilations is a Democrat. For many years he has taken an active 
part in public affairs, doing all in his power to promote the success of the 
party in which he believes, and also con.tributing to general progress and 
improvement along other lines. He is familiar with the pioneer history of 
the state from an early day, his residence here covering thirty-six years. 
He has witnessed the introduction of the railroad, the telegraph and the tele- 
phone, has seen the wild land transformed into good farms, the mineral 
resources of the state developed, while towns and villages have sprung up 
with their accompanying commercial and industrial interests, and churches 
and schools have been established. Mr. Wold's name in inseparably inter- 
^\ oven with the work of pioneer development and of later day progress and he 
well deserves the rest from active labor which he is now enjoying. 

ELWOOD C. HUGHES. 

Perhaps there is no part of this history of more general interest than 
the record of the bar. It is well known that the peace, prosperity and 
well-being of every community depend upon the wise interpretation of the. 
laws, as well as upon their judicious framing, and therefore the records of 
the various persons who have at dififerent times made up the bar will form an 
important part of this volume. A well known jurist of Illinois said : "In 
the .American state the great and good lawyer must always be prominent, 
for he is one of the forces that move and control society. Public confidence 
has generally been reposed in the legal profession. It has ever been the de- 
fender of popular rights, the champion of freedom regulated by law, the firm 
support of good government. In the times of danger it has stood like a rock 
and breasted the mad passions of the hour and finally resisted tumult and 
faction. No political preferment, no mere jjlace, can add to the power or 
increase the honor which belongs to the ])urc and educated lawyer." Elwood 
C. Hughes is one who has been honored by and is an honor to the legal fra- 
ternity of Washington. He stands to-day prominent among the leading 
m.embers of the" bar of the state, a positi(Mi to which he has attained through 
marked ability. 

Elwood Clarke Hughes is a member of the law firm of Struvc, Allen. 



524 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

Huglics & jAIcMicken. He claims Pennsylvania as the state of his nativity, 
his birth having occurred near Bloomsburg, Columbia county, on the 25th 
of August, 1855. He is descended from Welsh-Quaker ancestry who came 
to Pennsylvania at the time William Penn settled in Philadelphia. Members 
of the family were very prominent in the early history of that portion of the 
state. Benjamin Hughes, the grandfather of our subject, was born there, 
and Ellwood Hughes, the father, was born in December, 1818, on the old 
homestead farm on which Benjamin Hughes had settled on removing to 
Columbia county. He married Elizabeth Hill, a native of Hughesville, 
Pennsylvania. He was a man of very liberal views, prominent and influen- 
tial in public affairs, and held membership in the Lutheran Evangelical 
church. In his family were seven children, of whom four are yet living. 
The father died in 1894, and his wife is now living in Dixon, Illinois, in the 
eighty-fourth year of her age. She comes of a family of marked distinction, 
whose representatives were identified with the learned professions, many of 
tliem being physicians, clergymen and college professors. Her ancestors 
left England for Germany at the same time the Puritans sailed on the May- 
flower for America, and in 1725 they, too, came to the new world. The 
grandfather of Mrs. Hughes was a soldier of the Revolutionary war. 

Elwood Clarke Hughes was reared on a farm near Dixon, Illinois, on 
which his parents had located when they emigrated westward. He worked 
in the fields in the summer months, and in the winter seasons attended school 
until seventeen years of age. He afterward engaged in teaching school 
through the winter months, and, anxious to acquire a better education, he 
entered Carthage College at Carthage, Illinois, in which he was graduated 
in 1878, being the valedictorian of his class, his standing being ninety-nine 
and three-quarters, the highest ever attained by any college student in that 
institution. Subsequently he engaged in teaching Latin and Greek in the 
preparatory department of the college and afterward accepted a position at 
Mount Morris, Illinois, where he was also instructor in the same branches for 
a year. 

In 1880 Mr. Hughes was happily married to Miss Emma De Hart, a 
native of Carthage, who had been one of his classmates in college. In the 
meantime he had begun studying law and was admitted to the bar in the 
state of Iowa in Se()tember. 1881. He then entered upon the practice of his 
profession there and in 1889 was admitted to practice in the supreme court 
of the United .States. His clientage grew rapidly, but his health demanded 
a change of climate, and in 1890, in company with his partner, H. H. A. 
Hastings, he made a trip to the Pacific coast, visiting Seattle. Well pleased 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 525 

with the city and its future prospects, they decided to locate here, and for 
three years their partnership relations were maintained. In the fall of 1893 
Livingston B. Stedman was admitted to a partnership, and the firm of 
Hug-hes. Hastings & Stedman was formed. Not long afterward the present 
firm of Struve, Allen, Hughes & McMicken was organized, to which Sena- 
tor Allen, who died suddenly on January 29, 1903, and JNIr. Hughes were the 
court lawyers. The firm is one of the most prominent in the state and repre- 
sents a number of leading corporations of Seattle and of Washington. The 
members enjoy a high reputation for legal talent and integrity and their busi- 
ness is now assuming verj^ extensive proportions. In his preparation of 
cases Mr. Hughes is most thorough and exhaustive; he seems almost in- 
tuitively to grasp the strong points of law and fact, while in his briefs and 
arguments the authorities are cited so extensively and the facts and reason- 
ing thereon are presented so cogently and unanswerably as to leave no doubt 
as to the correctness of his views or of his conclusions. 

The home of Air. and Mrs. Hughes has been blessed with a son and a 
daughter, Howard De Hart, who is now a student in Harvard College, and 
Helen M.. who has just returned from Europe, where, with her mother, she 
has been traveling. The cause of education finds in Mr. Hughes a warm 
friend, and he is now serving as a member of the school board, doing everv-- 
thing in his power to advance the standard of the schools in this city. Soci- 
ally he is connected with the Elks, the Odd Fellows and the Knights Templar, 
and in politics is a very active and earnest Republican. In campaign years 
he delivers many addresses, and his oratorical ability is widely recognized, 
making him an entertaining speaker. His scholarly attainments, his reliable 
judgment and his charming powers of conversation would enable him to fill 
any position, however exalted, and he is no less honored in public than loved 
in pri\ate life. 

MICHAEL WILSON. 

The deserved reward of a well spent life is an honored retirement from 
business in which to enjoy the fruits of former toil. To-day, after a useful 
and beneficial career. Mr. Wilson is quietly living at his beautiful home- 
stead near O'Brien, surrounded by the comforts that earnest labor has 
brought him. He is a prominent citizen of the community, and has Ijorne 
his part in the upbuilding and development of King county. 

Mr. ^^'ilson was born near Tipton, Missouri, on the nth of Xovem- 
ber. 1845. ^^'S ancestors, who were of Scotch descent, were among the 



526 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

early and prominent settlers of the Old Dominion. ha\ing been residents of 
that commonwealth when William Penn was making his treaty with the In- 
dians. The lather of our subject, Solomon W'ilson, was born in Virginia 
in 1813, and there the days of his youth and early manhood were spent. At 
the age of twenty-one years he took u]) his abode in Missouri, where he de- 
voted his attention to agricultural ])nrsuits until 1882. In that year he lo- 
cated in Issacpiah, Washington, where he lived in quiet retirement until called 
to his home beyond, passing away in death in 1894. For his wife lie chose 
Sarah McPherson, who was born in Kentucky in 1822, and she, too, was of 
Scotch descent. She is still living, and makes her home in Issaciuah. W'ash- 
ington. 

Michael \\'ilson received th.e educational advantages afforded by tlie 
country schools of Missouri, where he continued to reside until 1875, and 
in that year he removed to Santa Rosa, Sonoma county, California, there de- 
voting his attention to the tilling of the soil for three years. In the spring of 
1878 he came to the White river valley of W^ashington, where he rented 
the old Daniel Post farm for lux }-eaTS, during which time he 
followed dairying. In 1883 he became the owner of the Alexander Gow 
homestead of one hundred and sixty acres, located near the present towns 
of O'Brien and Kent, and at that time the place was a dense wilderness, 
covered with a heavy growth of cottonv/ood trees and underbrush. The 
only means of receiving supplies then was by carrying them on foot about 
two miles from White ri\'er, where they were landed from small boats then 
plying on that stream. Mr. \^'ilson at once began the arduous task of clear- 
ing and improving his farm, and as the j'ears have passed by he has wrought 
a wonderful transformation, surrounding his fields with well kept fences, 
has erected commodious and substantial buildings and has made his place 
to blossom as the rose. For many years he devoted his entire attention to 
general farming and dairying, but he is now retired from the active work 
of the farm and is spending his time in ease and quiet at his beautiful old 
homestead, the work of which is carried on by his sons, Lloyd and James. 
An ardent Republican in politics, both he and his sons take a commendable 
interest in all local campaigns, and are regarded as public spirited and pro- 
gressive citizens. In his social relations he is a member of the Ancient 
Order of United Workmen at Kent. 

The marriage of Mr. Wilson was celebrated in Newtonia. Newton 
county, Missouri, in 1870, when Miss Matilda Hart became his wife. She 
was born in .\rkansas in 1847, and her death occurred on the old home 
farm on the 30th of April, 1900. l-'our children blessed their marriage. 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. ^ 527 

nanielv: Rella, the wife of Roscoe Everett, a merchant of Kent; Maud, 
the wife of Frank Warner, engaged in mercantile pursuits at O'Brien; 
Llovd. who married Mattie ShafYer, a native of Stockton, Cahfornia; and 
James, who married Bessie Raymond, a native of Canada and a daughter 
of H. R. Raymond, a prominent resident of the Dominion. Tlie two sons, 
Llovd and James, are carrying on the work of the home farm, thus relieving 
their father of much care and anxiety in his declining years. 

STEPHEN P. WILLIS. 

The pioneer history of King county has upon its rolls the name of 
Stephen P. Willis, who for many years has resided within its horders and 
is therefore one of its oldest residents. Wonderful changes have occurred 
since his arrival, and of the work of progress and advancement he has ever 
been an advocate. By his active participation as well as friendly encourage- 
ment he has assisted in the development and substantial promotion of the 
county until it takes rank with the older counties of the east in all the ele- 
ments of civilization. 

Illinois is the state of Mr. Willis's nativity, his birth having occurred 
in Putnam county on the 3d of September, 183 1, and on the paternal side 
he is descended from old Scotch ancestry, while in the maternal line he is 
of \\'elsh descent. His father, James W. Willis, was born in South Caro- 
lina in 1797, but when a boy he was taken by his parents to Ohio, and in 
1820 he located in Putnam county, Illinois. There he continued to make 
his home until 1839, when he removed to Linn county, Iowa, and there his 
life's labors were ended in death in 1844. He followed the tilling of the soil 
as a life occupation. For his wife he chose Ann Stewart, who was bom 
in Kentucky in 1800, but was reared in Ohio. After her husband's death 
she remained in Iowa until 1S57. then removed to Polk county, Oregon, 
from there to Umpqua. Douglas county, Oregon, and from there to Uma- 
tilla county, where her death occurred at the home of her daughter in 1885. 

Stephen P. Willis received only the meager advantages afforded by 
the district schools of Illinois and Iowa, and until his twenty-fourth year 
he remained under the parental roof and assisted in the work of the home 
farm. After his father's death he continued to care for his widowed 
mother in Iowa until 1857, and in that year, by the Panama route, he went 
to California and Oregon, locating first in the Willamette valley, where 
he remained for two years. Going thence to the LTmpqua valley in Doug- 
las county, Oregon, he was there engaged in agricultural pursuits for six 



528 ^ REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

years, liaving purchased a farm near Roseburg in 1861. Four years later, 
in 1S65, he came to the White river valley in Washington, where he home- 
steaded a tract of one hundred and sixty acres near the present town of 
Kent, which he cleared from the dense forest that covered it, and was there 
successfully engaged in farming and dairying for the long period of twenty- 
five years. By perseverance, industry, economy and good management he 
attained a- leading position among the substantial farmers of the community, 
and his worth is widely acknowledged by those who are familiar with his 
honorable business methods. Desiring to retire from the active duties of 
a business life, Mr. Willis in 1895 placed his farm in charge of his nephew, 
W. J. Shinn. The latter divided the place into five-acre tracts, and these 
he sold on contract, but as some of the purchasers failed to meet their obli- 
gations Mr. Willis is still the owner of a part of the tract. In the meantime 
he had also purchased three lots at Latonia, on Lake Union, on which he 
erected a comfortable residence, and there he made his home for ten years. 
Selling his place in 1900, he returned to the old farm on White river, 
which he had prc\iously given to his daughter, ]\Irs. Sarah Ross, 
whose husband, W. R. Ross, was waylaid and fatally shot by bis neighbor, 
Alexander Simpson, in 1901. The latter is now serving a fifteen years' 
sentence for his crime. The motive which led to the terrible murder is 
thought to have beai jealousy. Mr. Willis is a Prohibitionist, and takes a 
prominent part in the campaigns of his party. 

In Linn county, Iowa, in 1855, Mr. Willis was united in marriage to 
Caroline White, who was born in Ohio in 1833. and was of English descait. 
For many years they traveled life's journey together, sharing with each 
other in the joys and sorrows which checker the lives of all, but on the 8th 
of May, 1 90 1, they were separated by the hand of death, the mother being 
called to her final rest from the old White ri\er farm. Two of their three 
children are now living, — Sarah A., the widow of \\'. R. Ross; and Charles 
L., a real estate dealer at Latonia, Washington. Laura Mildred, who was 
born in 1856, died in the Willamette valley of Oregon in 1858. On No- 
vember 5, 1902, Mr. Willis was married to Edith E. Wheeler, and now 
makes his home in Kent. 

RONALD C. CRAWFORD. 

Great indeed have been the changes which time and man ha\e wrought 
since Ronald C. Crawford landed on the Pacific coast. He is numbered 
among the pioneers of both Oregon and California, and is now a distin- 




o 



"iXW^ciXiV v^ . L-^n-cVL^ Li^-r-1 ^ 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 529 

guished and honored resident of Seattle, where he is Hving retired in the en- 
joyment of a well earned rest after many years of toil, in which his efforts 
have contributed to the development and upbuilding of this section of the 
country as well as to his individual prosperity. When the rich mineral 
sources were still locketl fast in the embraces of nature, when the rich land 
was unclaimed and uncultivated, when the Indians far outnumbered the 
white settlers, and life in the northwest was attended with many dangers and 
hardships, Mr. CraVford took up his abode on the Pacific coast and for fifty- 
five years has been identified with its interests. 

He was born in Havana, New York, in 1827, and is of Scotch-Irish 
ancestry. His great-great-grandfather, William Crawford, emigrated to 
Orange county, New York, and became the progenitor of the family in 
America. He was a Presbyterian in religious faith. His son, William 
Crawford, Jr., was born in New York and participated in the war of the 
Revolution, while his son, Samuel Crawford, Ronald C. Crawford's grand- 
father, was a soldier of the war of 181 2. The latter lived to be more than 
eighty years of age and died in 1847. Samuel G. Crawford, the father of 
our subject, was born in Orange county. New York, in 1799 and married 
Miss Elizabeth Davis of the same county. Both attained to an advanced age. 
The father was a Republican and gave to the party an unfaltering support 
He served as magistrate and in numerous other offices, was a man of high 
Christian character and in his religious affiliation was a Congregationalist. 
He visited the Pacific coast in 1862 and his death occurred in 1878 when he 
was seventy-nine years of age. His good wife departed this life in the for- 
tieth year of her age. They were the paraits of five children, all of whom 
lived to a good old age, and two of the sons yet survive, the brother of our 
subject being Leroy Crawford, now a resident of New York. 

Ronald C. Crawford pursued his education in the schools of Havana, 
New York, and in 1847 when twenty years of age, crossed the plains to Ore- 
gon City. His brother, Medorem Crawford, had made the long journey 
across the plains in 1842, and was one of the prominent pioneers of Oregon. 
For many years he was the honored president of the Pioneer Society of that 
state. He became the owner of a large farm in Yamhill county and spent the 
remainder of his life there, being held in the highest regard by all. When 
our subject came to the Pacific coast in 1847 there was a large emigration. 
The company with which he traxeled made the journey with ox teams, but 
Mr. Crawford had his own horse. He assisted the company in various ways, 
one of his duties being to ride on ahead, which he could do, as his horse trav- 
eled faster than the oxen, and select a suitable camping place for the night. 



530 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

His luggage was carried in one of the wagons in payment of the help which he 
rendered the party. There were large herds of buffalo upon the plains, and 
the party frequently saw Indians but were never molested by the red men. 
The six months' journey was terminated by their arrival at Oregon City, 
where Mr. Crawford engaged in freighting for two years. Then when the 
gold excitement in California was drawing people to the mines from all 
sections of the country, he also went there in search of the precious metal, 
making the journey on horseback, packing his equipments and necessary 
clothing. Reaching the gold fields he engaged in placer mining on the Amer- 
ican river and on the Feather river above Sacramento, taking out gold to the 
value of from one hundred to two hundred and fifty dollars per day. He 
made a great deal and when he returned to Oregon at the end of two years he 
had a handsome stake for so young a man. He spent the winter of 185 1-2 
in San Francisco, and in the spring returned to Oregon City. 

Not long after his arrival ^Ir. Crawford was happily married to Miss 
Elizabeth Moore, a native of Illinois, who crossed the plains with her father, 
James M. Moore, in 1847. After their marriage they .secured a donation 
claim in Clackamas county anil resided thereon for five years, during 
which time our subject made many improvements upon his land and obtained 
his patent from the government. At the end of the period he removed to 
Walla Walla county and was engaged in mining, also in freighting from the 
mines of Walla Walla for four years. He was next appointed deputy col- 
lector of internal revenue and spent six years in Salem, Oregon. He joined 
the Republican party at its organization and was a strong Union man. 

In 1869 Mr. Crawford removed to Olympia, Washington, and estab- 
lished a furniture store, but the Northern Pacific Railroad Company did not 
make that town its terminus, and he closed out his business, removing to his 
farm in Lewis county, where he remained for five years, farming and improv- 
ing his property. At the expiration of that period he accepted the position of 
chief warden of the United States penitentiary on McNeal Island, having 
charge of the prisoners there for three years. In 1877 he became a resident 
of Seattle and accepted the position of pressman and afterwards traveling 
agent for the Post Intelligencer for five years. He 'then became interested 
in his present business, that of buying bonds and commercial paper of all 
descriptions. 

Unto Mr. and I\Irs. Crawford have been born seven children, all natives 
of either Oregon or Washington. Five survive. They are as follows : Ad- 
die, the wife of M. E. Warren of Daw.son City;Samuel L.. who is prominent- 
Iv engaged in the real estate business in Seattle ; Fannie, the widow of Clark 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 53 1 

Biles; Ronald M. of Dawson; and Nellie, the wife of Captain Laurence S. 
Booth, who is engaged in the abstract business in Seattle. Mr. Crawford 
was for many years a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. 
In 185-' he was made a Master Mason in Multnomah Lodge No. i, F. & A. 
M., the first Masonic lodge organized on the Pacific coast. For many years 
he has been an honorary member of St. John's Lodge of Seattle. In politics 
he is still a Republican on whom the party can rely, and he has been honored 
with different official positions. While in Lewis county he was chosen to 
represent his district in the Washington territorial legislature of 1875. He 
was also postmaster and justice of the peace, filling all the positions at one 
time, creditably acquitting himself in the discharge of his manifold and varied 
duties. On coming to Seattle he- purchased a residence near the university 
in order to educate his children, and has remained here for the past twenty- 
five years. His wife, with whom he has traveled life's journey for a half- 
century, is a member of the Plymouth Congregational church, and both are 
numbered among the most respected citizens of Seattle. His connection 
with the northwest covers a very extended period and in every sphere of life 
in which he has been called upon to move he has made an indelible impression, 
and by his excellent public service and upright life has honored tlie state 
which has honored him. 

REV. J. P. DERWEXT LLWYD. 

Among the able churchmen and clergymen of the Protestant Episcopal 
church in the state of W^ashing-ton is Mr. Llwyd, who is rector of St. Mark's 
church in the city of Seattle, the same having the largest and most important 
parish of the church in the state. He has not only shown marked zeal and 
earnestness in his clerical work but has manifested an administrative ability 
which has been most potent in insuring the temporal welfare of his parish, 
and he is held in the highest esteem for his devotion to the cause of the Divine 
Master, for his abiding sympathy for "all those in any way afflicted or dis- 
tressed in mind, body or estate," and for his able service in his holy calling 
as a priest of the church. 

Mr. Llwyd is a native of England, having been born in the city of Man- 
chester, on the 7th of June, r86i, the son of the Rev. Thomas and Emma 
(Plummer) Llw}(l, both of whom were likewise born in Manchester, the 
father being of stanch old Welsh stock and a clergyman of the Church of 
England, In 1874 the family removed to the Dominion of Canada, and the 
father became rector of .St. Times' church at Gravcnhurst, Ontario, where 



532 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

he remained for a number of years. In 1890 he was appointed arch deacon 
of the diocese of Algoma and is now incumbent of that oflice in the parish of 
Huntsville. In Iiis native city J. P. D. Llwyd entered grammar school at 
the age of ten years and there continued liis studies about three years, at the 
expiration of which he accompanied his parents on their removal to Canada, 
where he passed four years under the private tutorship of the Rev. Joseph S. 
Cole, B. A., securing an excellent literary education. He then aigaged in 
pedagogic work, becoming a teacher in the public schools of Ontario, and 
after devoting three years to this line of endea\or he was identified with 
mercantile pursuits in Toronto for nearly an equal interval. Reared under 
the benign influences of the great mother church and ever appreciative of 
the intrinsic beauty and consistency of its faith, Mr. Llwyd was naturally 
drawn to the priesthood, and in 1883 he began the work of preparing him- 
self for holy orders by entering the theological college of Montreal, where 
he pursued his divinity course for one year, at the expiration of which he 
went to New York city, where he spent one year in study and parochial work 
with the Rev. W. S. Rainsford, D. D., in St. George's parish. He then re- 
moved to Indiana, where he was ordained to the diaconate and priesthood by 
Rt. Rev. D. B. Knickerbacker, bishop of the diocese of Indiana, and there- 
after he passed two years in general missionary work in that state and Wis- 
consin. Finally he was called to the rectorship of St. Paul's church at Riv- 
erside, one of the most beautiful of the suburban towns near the city of 
Chicago, being there installed for three years and being very successful in 
his work, as he was also for the ensuing eight years, during which he was 
rector of the church of the Good Shepherd in Omaha, Nebraska. 

In the spring of 1897 Mr. Llwyd came to Seattle and became rector of 
St. jMark's, whose parish is the most important in the state, as has already 
been stated. Here his zealous and unabating efforts have been attended with 
most gratifying results in both a spiritual and a temporal way; the work of 
the church and its collateral benevolences has been materially advanced ; it 
has gained further precedence in the diocese; and the rector has won to him- 
self the affection of his parishioners and the esteem and good will of all with 
whom he has come in contact. The number of communicants has been in- 
creased from five hundred to nine hundred ; many improvements ha\e lieen 
made on the church property, including the erection of a rectory, and during 
the pastorate of ]\Ir. Llwyd a total of twenty-five thousand dollars has been 
expended in material improvements. With a full appreciation of the solemn 
and impressive beauties of the ancient liturgy, Mr. Llwyd has embellished 
the services and ritualistic observances of St. Mark's, and has spared no 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 533 

pains to beget devotion and equal appreciation on the part of those over whom 
he is placed in charge, his sermons being ever marked by the unmistakable 
evidences ot spirituality and earnestness and thus effectively supplementing 
the ritual of the Holy Catholic church. 

Fraternally Air. Llwyd is identified with the Knights of Pythias, the 
Ancient Order of United Workmen, the Elks and the Odd Fellows. He 
has been twice elected president of the Charity Organization Society at 
Seattle, and is now a member of the board of library trustees of the city. 
He is in continual demand for lectures and speeches on public occasions. 
On the 28th of December,' 1886, Mr. Llwyd was united in marriage to Miss 
Mary Emilie Thomas, who was born in the city of Brantford, Ontario, a 
representative of prominent old Knickerbocker families and the daughter of 
William H. and Adaline (Kissam) Thomas. Rev. and Mrs. Llwyd are the 
parents of five children, namely: Gwendolyn Derwent. Thomas Derwent, 
Adeline Derwent, Charlewood Derwent and Margaret Derwent. 

JOHN B. POWLES. 

In a compilation purporting to portray the more salient features in the 
careers of the representative men of King county and the city of Seattle, 
there is uimiistakable consistency in according a place of due relative dis- 
tinction and priority to Mr. Powles, who is one of the progressive and suc- 
cessful business men of the metropolis of the state, being an interested prin- 
cipal in the extensive commission house conducted under the title of J. W. 
Godwin & Company, the business being incorporated under the laws of the 
state, and the subject of this sketch being incumbent of the office of secre- 
tary and treasurer of the concern, which is one of the most important of the 
sort in this city. 

Mr. Powles is a native of the city of London, England, where he was 
born on the 19th of June, 1856, the son of William and Mary Jane (Brack) 
Powles. both representative of stanch old English stock. In the year 1863 
they emigrated from England to the Dominion of Canada, being accompanied 
by their three children. William Powles was engaged in the iron trade in 
the city of Montreal, where he remained until his death, which occurred on 
Good Friday, 1875. ^^ was a man of sterling character and marked ability 
and was a zealous and devoted churchman of the established church of Eng- 
land, or the Protestant Episcopal church in America. His widow still sur- 
vives him, being likewise a devoted communicant of the Episcopal church 
and having attained the venerable age of seventv-five vears. She maintains 



534 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

her liome in Oelwein, Iowa, and is lield in high esteem by all who liave come 
within the spliere of iier gracious influence. Of her nine children the subject 
of this review is the only one in the state of Washington. 

John B. Powles was but seven years of age at the time of his parents' 
removal from England to Canada, and his early educational discipline was 
received in the city of Montreal, wdiere he was reared to years of maiurity. 
There under the direction of his honored father he became identified willi 
the iron trade, thoroughly familiarizing himself with all branches of the 
same, inclnding the building of locomotive engines, general repairing and 
mechanical drawing, in which latter department he attained notable facility 
and expertness. From Montreal he removed to the city of Minneapolis, 
^linnesota. where for seven years he was engaged in the retail grocery busi- 
ness, disposing of his interests at the expiration of that time and coming to 
Seattle, with whose natural advantages and promising future he became so 
impressed that he decided to cast in his lot with that of this favored city, 
and in the light of the definite and gratifying success which has come to him 
thruugh his well directed efforts here, it is safe to say that he has no regret 
for ha\-ing chosen this place as the field of his operations. He took up his 
residence here just after the great fire and he began his own business career by 
engaging in the brokerage business, in which he met with excelleiit success. 
On the 17th of May. 1894. he purchased a half interest in the Godwin com- 
mission business, and the enterprise was forthwith incorporated, under the 
title already noted, and our subject was made secretary and treasurer. The 
enterprise takes a foremost place among the principal commission houses of 
the city, and tlie discrimination and keen business sagacity which have been 
brought to bear by the interested principals have combined with their high 
reputation for inflexible integrity and honor to gain to the house a repre- 
sentative support, so that each year sees a marked increase in the volume of 
business transacted. At first the concern confined its business largely to the 
city, but eventiially began reaching out for the business of the w^estem half 
of the state, where is now controlled a business fully equal in scope and im- 
])ortance to that of more local order. The company gives employment to 
seventeen men and do a particularly large business in the handling of fruits 
and vegetables, the aggregate of transactions reaching a half million of 
dollars annually. 

Upon taking up his residence in Seattle i\Ir. Powles at once thoroughly 
identified himself with its civic as well as business interests and he has gained 
recognition as a wide-awake and public spirited citizen. He has been a very 
active member of the Chamber of Commerce, and is a member of its board of 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 535 

trustees at the present time. In politics, while he has no personal ambition 
for official preferment, Mr. Powles is a stanch supporter of the Republican 
partv, though he takes no active part in political afifairs, preferring to de- 
vote his undivided attention to his business interests. He is president of the 
Rcnton Hill Club, an important organization which is devoting its energies 
to the beautifying of that delightful section of the city from which it derives 
its name. He is interested in several mining properties and propositions 
and also owns valuable tide-land property, while his influence is ever given 
in the furtherance of all enterprises and projects brought forward for the 
general good of the city and state in the lines of industrial, civic and ma- 
terial development, and he is held in the highest esteem in both business and 
social circles. On the 7th of April, 1881, Mr. Powles was united in mar- 
riage to Miss Mary Jane Dixon, who was born in the city of Montreal, Can- 
ada, the daughter of Alonzo Dixon, a prominent business man of that city, 
and of this union two children were born, Charles William, who died in the 
third )'ear of his age; and Olive Rachel, who is now a student in the Seattle 
high school. 

JOHN H. IRVING. 

In viewing the mass of mankind in the various occupations of life, 
the conclusion is forced upon the observer that in the vast majority of cases 
men have sought employment not in the line of their peculiar fitness but in 
those fields where caprice or circumstances have placed them, thus explaining 
the reason of the failure of ninety-five per cent, of those who enter com- 
mercial and professional circles. In a few cases it seems that men with a 
pepuliar fitness for a certain line have taken it up and marked success has 
followed. Such is the fact in the case of the subject of this biography, 
John H. Irving. He is a member of the firm of Irving & Cannon, merchant 
tailors, doing business in the Colonial block at Seattle, and is the pioneer 
in the introduction of tailoring to the trade here. 

A native of Michigan, he was born in Port Huron, December 23, 1868, 
and is of the third generation to bear the name of John in the Irving fam- 
ily, and has given the same name to his own son. His grandfather was the first 
of the Irvings to come to America, emigrating from Scotland to Halifax, 
Nova Scotia, where he engaged in ship-building. Later he removed to 
Stratford, Ontario, and was there engaged in agricultural pursuits, becom- 
ing ;i \ery prciminent and influential citizen of that locality. John Irving, 



53G REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

tlie second, who was born in the land of hills and heather, thence came with 
the family to the new world. He was afterward engaged in railroad con- 
tracting in Michigan and also conducted a lumber business there. He mar- 
ried Eliza J. Culbertson, of New York city, and to them were born seven 
children, the subject of this review being the sixth in order of birth. 

The father met his death in an accident and early in life John H. Irving 
was thrown upon his own resources. He earned the money to meet the ex- 
penses of his education, working in the day time, while at night he attended 
Bryant & Stratton's Business College. For two and one-half years he was 
with the Bell Telephone Company in Michigan. He afterward made a con- 
tract with the firm of Wannamaker & Brown to represent them in the state 
of Washington and came to Seattle in 1888, making this his headquarters. 
He was very successful in building up a good trade for them and remained 
with them for seven years. Perceiving that there was a demand for the 
better class of goods here, he then entered into partnership in 1891 with 
Mr. Cannon, and this relationship has since been maintained. He started 
in to build up a business that would prove a growing and profitable one, 
and that they have succeeded is evidenced by the fact that their sales in 
1 90 1 exceeded twenty-four thousand dollars. That they do an immense 
amount of work is apparent in visiting their place of business in the Colonial 
block, as their space there is not sufficient for performing the mechanical 
part of their work and their goods are made up elsewhere. At considerable 
expense they have established agencies in difYerait parts of Washington 
and Alaska and continuously have one man upon the road, while at times 
the house is represented by two traveling salesmen. Mr. Irving devotes his 
entire time and attention to business and has had the satisfaction of seeing 
it steadily increase in xoluine and imi<ortance so that to-day he is at the head 
of one of the leading commercial enterprises of the city. 

In his political views Mr. Irving is a stalwart Democrat, and socially 
is connected with the Modem Woodmen of America and the United Com- 
mercial Travelers. He was formerly connected with and was an enthusi- 
astic member of the Seattle Athletic Association, but the leisure which he 
now has from business cares he devotes to his home. He is a man of ex- 
cellent business ability and has gained success through close application, 
unremitting diligence and by strict adherence to commercial interests. He 
])Ianned his own advancement, accomplished it in spite of obstacles, and 
to-da\' is the possessor of a very desirable capital, which is the well earned 
reward of his labors. 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 537 

THO:^IAS 'SI. ALVORD. 

Thomas M. Alvord was one of the honored pioneers who aided in lay- 
ing- the foundation on which to erect the superstructure of King county's 
present prosperity and progress. Through the period of early development 
he was an important factor in the improvement and advancement of this sec- 
tion of the state, and was also concerned with the broader interests which had 
to do with the welfare of the commonwealth. 

Mr. Alvord was born at Homer, New York, on the 26th of February, 
1832, and is a son of Sylvester and Lucy (Hall) Alvord, both of English 
descent, the former born in New York in 1796 and the latter in New Hamp- 
shire in 1800. In the paternal line the ancestors were among the early set- 
tlers of Connecticut. The parents both died at Homer, New York, the fa- 
ther on the 13th of October, 1864, and the mother in 1882. Their son 
Thomas attended the public schools of his native city and later was a stu- 
dent in an academy at that place. Remainng under the parental roof until 
his twenty-first year, he then, in 1853, made the journey, via the Nicaragua 
route, to California, taking up his abode in Calaveras county, where for the 
following five years he follow^ed mining and logging. During the Eraser 
river gold excitement in 1858 he spent about six months in that region, 
coming thence to Olympia, Washington, and after a short sojourn there lo- 
cated in the \Miite river valley, near the present tow-n of Kent, the year of 
his arrival being 1859. He there purchased a donation claim of three hun- 
dred and twenty acres from !Moses Kirkland, who had entered it in 1854 
and had improved it to a considerable extent. In 1855 Mr. Kirkland w^as 
obliged to leave this place on account of the Indians, who had massacred a 
number of families in the immediate neighborhood. When he returned, in 
company with Mr. Alvord, he found his stock gone and his house and all the 
farming implements burned, with the exception of a grindstone which was 
found under the bank of the river. The Indian trouble had then subsided 
and Mr. Alvord began tlie arduous task of improving and developing his 
land, and soon he had placed it under an excellent state of cultivation and had 
established a prosperous dairy, which he successfully conducted from 1S59 
until 1895. During this time he also added to his original purchase until his 
landed possessions consisted of eleven hundred acres, constituting the largest 
ranch in the White river valley. During the great panic of 1893-94 he was 
compelled to mortgage his place, and. being unable to meet the demands on 
time, the mortgage was foreclosed in 1895 by the New England Mortgage 
and .Securitv Companv, and for a time thereafter he rented the land from 



S38 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

this company. In 1899. owing to liis indomitable energy and wise manage- 
ment, he was able to repurchase this valuable property, and success has since 
abundantly rewarded his efforts. He is now the owner of one of the largest 
and most complete dairy farm? in tlie White river \alley. Prior to the ter- 
rible panic of 1893 he had al'i^o inx-ested largely in Seattle property, and this 
he also lost. 

At Spafford. New York, in 1859. was celebrated the marriage of Mr. 
Alvord and Miss Maria J. Smith. She was born at Fabius, Onondaga coun- 
ty, New York, on the i6th of September, 1832. and is of Irish and English 
parentage. Although she, too, has reached the seventieth milestone on the 
journey of life, she is yet very active, and by her cheerfulness, wise judgment 
and earnest labor has proved to her husband a true helpmate. Four chil- 
dren have been born to this worthy couple, but only three are now living, 
namely: Elisha H., who is engaged in mining on the Skagit river; Irving 
T., a farmer and dairyman on White river, near Pialschie, Washington; and 
Albert S., engaged in mining pursuits in Alaska. Carrie Ellen, the first born, 
died at the home farm on the i8th of .April, 1891, at the age of twenty- 
eight years. In political matters Mr. Alvord is independent, preferring to 
support the men whom he regards as best qualified to fill positions of trust 
and responsibility. He is a true example of one who has achieved success 
without paying the price at which it is so often bought; for his prosperity 
has not removed him farther from his fellow men, but has brought him into 
nearer and more intimate relations with them. The more means he has had 
the more he has done for those around him, and this honored pioneer is num- 
bered among King county's most prominent citizens. 

GEORGE F. COTTERILL. 

Among the young men who came to Washington territory and to Seat- 
tle during the "early eighties," few have made a more permanent impression 
on the progress and development of state and city than the subject of thi^ 
sketch. Mr. Cotterill has not achieved wealth, for his activities have not been 
directed to personal dollar-getting. He has not attained public office, 
though twice before the people as candidate for mayor of his city and con- 
gressman from his state, yet his sincere and manly advocacy of minority 
principles have commanded the universal respect of partisan opponents. In 
his profession as civil engineer, Mr. Cotterill has played an important part in 
laying the foundation for the present progress and future greatness of Seat- 
tle; as a writer and speaker his ser\ice in the public affairs of city and state 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 539 

has earned the devotion of friends and the friendsliip of opponents; as an 
advocate of reform principles of government as apphed to city, state or na- 
tion, he is a recognized leader, whose sincerity is ne\er challenged nor cour- 
age in application (juestioned. Though never seeking honors or emolu- 
ments, and enjoying a degree of confidence and assured success in the practice 
of his profession Mr. Cotterill has never shirked a call to public service, what- 
ever might be the personal sacrifice required, demanding oni) a square stand 
in advocacy of his avowed principles, preferring defeat on that ground to 
success by evasion or time-serving. To-day, at the threshold of middle man- 
hood, George F. Cotterill looks toward the future with but one controlling 
ambition — to accomplish the highest service for humanity which opportunity 
and ability may afford. 

George Fletcher Cotterill was born in the city of Oxford. England, 
iS'ovember i8, 1S65. His parentage is of that solid foundation of Britain's 
greatness — the honest, industrious working people. Robert Cotterill and 
Alice (Smith) Cotterill, commenced life as gardener and housewife in their 
native "merrie England," but by the time five children were gathered about 
their fireside (three others having died in infancy), the father carried out a 
long cherished plan looking to the future of his family, and joined the tide of 
emigrants to the republic across the Atlantic. This was in 1872, the good 
steamer Samaria arriving in Boston harbor early in May of that year. Dur- 
ing 1869-70 Robert Cotterill had made a preliminary trip to "spy out the pro- 
mised land." extending his visit as far west as Michigan, returning with the 
determination to earn enough to come again with wife and children, which 
he accomplished in 1872. At this period the subject of our sketch was six 
years of age, the fourth of the flock of five. 

After a few weeks" residence in Boston and later at West Xewton, where 
the children first attended an American school, the family located at Montclair, 
New Jersey, a wealthy and picturesque residence suburb of the American 
metropolis, nestling under and along the slope of the Orange mountain, fif- 
teen miles west of Manhattan Island. Here they remained twelve years, 
Roliert Cotterill working as gardener and later establishing himself in a hum- 
l)le wav as a village florist. Four others were added to the fold, of whom 
tliree little one sptissed away in infancy and childhood, leaving two daughters 
and four sons around the family berth. INIontclair has always enjoyed and 
bnnsted of exceptional educational facilities, and these the Cotterill family 
utilized to the utmost within the means available. By reason of an aptitude 
for study and desire for advancement, the subject of this sketch made such 
rapid progress that at fifteen years of age he was graduated from the classi- 



540 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

cal course of the high school as valedictorian of his class. It was his ambi- 
tion to become a lawyer, history, literatiu'e and languages having been his 
favorite school studies. He hoped by some means to work bis way through 
Yale College, the entry to which was open by his graduation diploma. But 
there were difficulties other than financial. The fifteen year old valedictorian, 
crammed with Latin and literature, mathematics and philosophy, was a slend- 
er boy of stunted growth, with voice not yet turned from the childish falsetto, a 
candidate for consumption rather than for college. On the night of graduation, 
while others were bestowing bouquets and congratulations, one of the school 
directors, ]\Ir. James Owen, said with practical brusqueness equivalent to a 
command, "George, you've studied long enough. What you need is good air, ■ 
plenty of exercise and a chance to grow. I'm going to start a 'crew' Monday 
morning to survey a railroad line the other side of the mountain. Be ready 
at seven o'clock at my office. I want you to carry the rod." And since that 
July day of 1881, George Cotterill has been carrying the rod or the chain or 
the instrument, steadily advancing by practical experience in the profession 
of surveying and civil engineering. 

In 1884 Robert Cotterill proceeded to carry out a purpose long cherished 
but delayed only that his older children might complete their education. The 
same spirit which had sent him across the Atlantic in search of better oppor- 
tunities, convinced him that the great west offered still greater opportunities, 
and during the latter seventies his judgment settled upon the frontier terri- 
tory of Washington and the Puget Sound region, with its baimy climate and 
great possibilities, as the place of eventual location. The thieatening illness 
of his* oldest son, Hedley, then twenty years of age, for which change of cli- 
mate was urged, hastened the decision. In August, 1884, the father and two 
sons, George being then eighteen years of age, set out for the Pacific north- 
west. It was an emigrants' journey, without the comforts of modern trans- 
continental travel, or the means to purchase them had they been available. 
The journey from St. Paul to Portland then required six days of tedious, tire- 
some travel. With his three years of experience under the direction of ^Ir. 
James Owen, then as now one of the eminent leaders in the ]jrofession of en- 
gineering, George Cotterill hoped for employment with the Northern Pacific 
Railway, whose headquarters were then at the Oregon metropolis. Hence he 
remained at Portland, while his father and brother went on to Puget Sound. 
The opportunity seemed certain, but after three weeks of weary waiting, his 
hopes were dashed to the ground by news of the cessation of all work on the 
Cascade division, to which he had been promised assignment by the chief en- 
!;ineer. Virgil G. Bogue, on the strength of his recommendations from Mr. 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 54 1 

Owen. On October i, 1884, he took the boat for Kalanid and the train for 
Tacoma, arriving at the "city of destiny" in the dead of night with a "two- 
bit piece" as sole cash resource. A cheap bed in a "shack" lodging house front- 
ing the stumps of the future Pacific avenue, absorbed the twenty-five cents, but 
brought dayhght in its stead, and a long walk out to the home of friends on a 
forest "ranch" in the suburbs, found the wanderer a grateful welcome and a 
late breakfast. Work was scarce, and difficulties multiplied. The meager 
funds set aside for the trip were soon exhausted. The older brother found 
no improved health, for the dread disease consumption had marked him for 
its victim. During October and November, though battling bra\'ely against 
its inroads, and striving to earn a living by working at his occupation as a 
bookkeeper for Moran Brothers, fellow townsmen from IMontclair, New 
Jersey, then just establishing themselves in Seattle, the struggle was unequal 
in the face of the Puget Sound rainy season. "Take hmi back to the old 
home," was the physician's order, and sacrificing all, the father turned his 
face back towards the Atlantic. It was on Thanksgiving day, 1884, that 
father and two sons met at Tacoma, there to say goodbye, in the one case, 
forever. George, though without work or prospects, had determined to re- 
main, both from necessity and choice. In the division of the scanty funds at 
hand, he reserved but eight dollars when the train for the east left him alone 
on the Tacoma platform. He secured a few da}-s" work laying out a cemetery 
for the future metropolis, but was buncoed out of his pay by a drunken em- 
ployer. Even with frugal repasts of "coffee and doughnuts" at measured 
mtervals, with the weekly room rent, the capital was steadily vanishing and 
affairs looked dark. An opportunity was offered to do liouse\\-ork chores 
for an old bachelor, wh.o had forsworn all cooking but his own ; the compensa- 
tion was five dollars per month and board. It was a life preserver, and George 
grasped it. His employer was an old-time northern Pacific engineer, C. A. 
White, with a fine library and a fund of knowledge about Puget Sound and 
the Cascade mountains, which were liberally drawn on by the surveyor 
"house-maid." Before the month expired, during the festive holiday season. 
Air. White concluded to break up housekeeping, but he munificently paid his 
young engineer "dish-washer" the full month's pay. With that five dollars 
in hand, and no Tacoma prospects in sight, George F. Cotterill accepted the 
invitation of Captain E. Coding, then working at Tacoma with his little tug, 
the Lucy, and on New Year's eve, came over to Seattle to commence 1885 
in. the Queen City of Puget Sound. 

A continued detail of Air. Cotterill's life is largely a record of the various 
enterprises which have made up the progress of Seattle. Pending employ- 



542 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

ment at his profession, he continuetl liis brotlier's \v(jrk of bookkeeping for 
Moran Brothers, resicHng at the home of Robert Moran. His first survey- 
ing- in Seattle consisted of measuring and platting a seat diagram for the new 
I'rye's Opera House, a job secured by James Hamilton Lewis, whose ac- 
i]uaintance he had made at Tacoma, over occasional "coffee and doughtnuts" 
— the limit of the purse capacity of the young southern lawyer and the youth- 
ful noriliern engineer. Mr. Lewis was "hind chinaman" on the opera house 
sur\ey, and "consulting engineer" on the scientific numbering of the seats, and 
the fee of fifteen dollars was proudly divided. During February and March 
ytnmg Cotterill secured a post as back-flagman on a survey for the Columbia 
and Puget Sound Railway between the Black Diamond \icinity and the present 
Palmer Junction. This was his first taste of Washington woods. He was ad- 
vanced to !e\eler and topographer before the completion of the survey. Re- 
turning to the city, he entered the employ of the firm of Whitworth & Thom- 
son, serving in any capacity that offered on surveys in Seattle and vicinity. 
During the summer of 1885 he worked under Mr. F. H. Whitworth as transit 
man on the first surveys of the Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railway, and 
as draughtsman on the preliminary -maps for that enterprise. During this 
year and the next he assisted Mr. R. H. Thomson on the surveys and con- 
struction of the first section of the permanent sewer system of Seattle, and up- 
on the project of the Grant street bridge to the head of the bay — a great under- 
taking for that day. He helped on the first surveys of the present site of 
West Seattle into five-acre tracts, and in January, 1886, armed only with com- 
pass and chain, was sent ox-er into the woods of Kitsap county, and with 
crude means and unskilled help, designed and staked the site of Sidney, the 
present county seat of the neighboring county across the sound. 

In May, 1886, the Northern Pacific railway resumed the construction of 
the Cascade division, and Mr. Bogue remembered and redeemed the promise 
made in Portland in 1884. Mr. Cotterill proceeded to Ellensburg, via Tac- 
oma, Portland and Pasco, then the only available route of travel, reported to 
LI. S. Huson there, and was assigned to service as transit man under Locating 
Engineer J. Q. Barlow. The relocation of the main line from Cle Elum to 
the Stampede tunnel, the location and construction of the wonderful "switch- 
back line" over the Cascade summit, and the three miles of loops and tunnels 
west of the "big tunnel," were under I\Ir. Barlow's direction. Though not 
yet twenty-one years of age Mr. Cotterill did responsible service and gained 
valuable experience. The Cascade mountain air and ample exercise com- 
pleted the work of physical upbuilding commenced in 1881, and when he left 
the Northern Pacific in January, 1887, the slender, stunted student of Mont- 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 543 

cliiir liad the phj'sique of an athlete. 'J'he Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern 
enterprise having resumed progress, Mr. Cotterill returned to that employ 
and during 1887 and 1888 served with Mr. Thomson on the location work 
and later with Mr. Whitworth in the prospecting and opening of the coal 
mines at Oilman (Issaquah) and Grand Ridge. In December, 1888, he re- 
signed from that service to enter a partnership with Mr. H. Thomson, now 
city engineer, and Mr. Clarence L. White, since county surveyor, for the 
general practice of surveying and engineering in Seattle. 

Within two weeks from the return of the father and brother to New Jer- 
sey in 1885, Hedley Cotterill succumbed to his disease and the fatigue of the 
homeward trip, from which he never rallied. The first news which reached 
George after the great snow blockade of that winter, delaying mails for weeks, 
conveyed the sad story of the death of his brother. Robert Cotterill settled 
down to his old business as florist in Montclair and in another three years 
was ready for the westward trip, bringing wife and youngest son. The 
oldest daughter. Emily, remained in Montclair, becoming the wife of Eu- 
gene Haring, and still residing there. The second daughter, Alice, was 
at that time a school teacher in Iowa, having spent several years in that 
state and in Illinois, afterwards, in 1888, coming to Seattle, snd later became 
the wife of John J. Smith, now the superintendent of a Seattle fruit-can- 
ning industry. The second surviving son, Frank, had worked his way to 
Washington territory during 1886, and has since resided at Seattle or neigh- 
boring towns, engaging in his occupation of plumbing. When father and 
mother came west in 1887 they located upon a ranch on Lake Sammamish, 
near Redmond, a tract acquired. by George F. Cotterill while on the rail- 
road survey in that vicinity. Here the parents still reside, in the quiet and 
peace of a modest dairy farm, with all their children save one settled down 
at close visiting distance in the busy metropolis ten miles to the westward. 
Though apjiroaching threescore years and ten, they are in fair health and 
satisfied with the turns of fortune's wheel which have brought them con- 
tentment, though not wealth. Though Episcopalians from training in the 
church of England, and still devoted to that faith, they are regularly to 
be found at the little union Sunday-school at Redmond, working for Chris- 
tian service regardless of denomination. 

In 1892 Mr. R. H. Thomson became city engineer of Seattle and he 
at once appointed George F. Cotterill as his assistant. In that capacity, 
during the eight years that followed, Mr. Cotterill made his mark in the 
public progress of Seattle. The design and construction of the sewer sys- 
tem was largely under his supervision. The system of street naming and 



544 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

numbering was revised and established by him. His principal service, how- 
e\er, was rendered in the project for constructing the great Cedar River grav- 
it}' water supply s)-stem ; the unique and up to that time unknown method of 
financing such an enterprise by pledging its future receipts was proposed by 
Mr. Cotterill. The special election of 1S95 to approve this plan was preceded 
by a warmly contested campaign, in which for the first time he became known 
as a public speaker and writer, the burden of the defense of the plan being 
placed upon him as its champion. Its triumphant success at the polls and 
subsequent accomplishment are matters of history. At a later date Mr. Cot- 
terill's services in matters relating to the tide land and harbor flats have been 
noteworthy. The present plan of diagonal piers and slips, which during the 
past five years has revolutionized Seattle's water front facilities, was ac- 
complished only by the persevering industry of George F. Cotterill. 

In February, 1900, the municipal campaign centered around questions 
arising out of the administration of the laws dealing with vice, and also the 
granting of private franchises. As the recognized champion of the forces 
which stood for "law and order" and for public ownership of public utilities, 
^Ir. Cotterill was called upon to make the race for mayor against the Re- 
publican nominee. At the election in IMarch. though defeated. ^Ir. Cotterill 
was a thousand votes ahead of the Democratic ticket which he headed. Im- 
mediately following that campaign, he resigned from public employ and 
during the past three years has successfully eng'aged in the private prac- 
tice of his profession, in association with Mr. F. H. Whitworth, his old em- 
ployer of 1885, and Clarence C. White, his partner of 1889-90. In 1902 Mr. 
Cotterill was unanimously tendered the Democratic nomination for con- 
gressman-at-!arge, without any desire or seeking on his part. Though de- 
feat was certain, in the face of an overwhelming normal Republican ma- 
jority, Mr. Cotterill made a memorable campaign, covering the entire state, 
and on Novemljer 4th led his ticket by nearly three thousand votes, of 
which half \\'as in his own county of King. Though now quietly settled 
down to the remunerative practice of his profession, these efforts have placed 
him in the front rank of the public men of the state, and men of every po- 
litical faith are in the habit of speaking of George F. Cotterill as a man who 
is certain sooner or later to be called into some important station of public 
life. 

I\Ir. Cotterill has been an active worker and leader in the temperance 
movement, and particularly in the Independent Order of Good Templars. 
Botli in England and America his father had engaged earnestly in this line 
of reform, and it came naturally that the son should take up the work. Be- 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 545 

coming a member of this order in 1885, he speedily passed through the local 
lodge offices, and in 1889 became grand secretary of the state jurisdiction. 
In 1893 he first attended the session of the international supreme lodge at 
Des Moines, Iowa, and incidentally the World's Fair at Chicago. In 1895 
he again represented Washington, at the international session at Boston 
also at Zwich, Switzerland, in 1897, and at Toronto, Canada, in 1899. His 
ser\-ice at these international gatherings was of such efficiecncy that in 1899 
he was recognized and honored by selection to the second highest post in the 
international organization. In that capacit}', during 1902, he attended the 
session at Stockholm, Sweden, and occupied two months in a tour through 
Europe, from Scandanavia to Italy, and from Austria to Great Britain. These 
and other opportunities for American and foreign travel have been the means 
of a liberal education and a broadening of character and outlook attainable 
in no other way. 

!Mr. Cotterill is also a member of the Ancient Order of United W'ork- 
men and of the Royal Arcanum, and has taken an active interest in their 
work as occasion permitted. During the height of the bicycle movement 
he was an active leader, designing and constructing the twenty-five miles and 
more of cycle paths which justly made Seattle famous in that line of recre- 
ation. The "good roads" movement has claimed his attention both as an en- 
gineer and citizen. In November, 1900. he attended the National Good 
Roads Convention as a representative of Seattle. During the year 1902 the 
Paciiic Northwest Society of Engineers was organized, and Mr. Cotterill 
was honored by his professional brethren with election as secretary of the 
society. 

In February, 1889, George F. Cotterill was married to Miss Cora R. 
Gormley, daughter of Henry and Orra Gormley, of Dela^an, Wisconsin, 
who had removed to Seattle about 1877. Mrs. Cotterill is therefore seven 
years more of a Washington pioneer than her husband. Since their mar- 
riage they have constantly resided in their cosy cottage home in North Seat- 
tle. One child was born of the union, Ruth Eileen, bringing the sun.shine 
for eight happy years, then passing over to the beyond, leaving a beautiful 
memory to the bereaved parents. During the two years that have followed 
that sad event they have striven by activities in life and frequent travel and 
other scenes to keep back the shadow and remember only the sunshine. The 
youngest brother of the family, Roland W. Cotterill, spent most of his youth 
and young manhood at the home of George F. Cotterill. He is now married 
and occupies a responsible position with the Seattle Electric Company. At 
thirtv-sc\-en vears of age, George F. Cotterill has bv industrv, sobrietv and 



546 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

force of cliaracter tluis made himself prominent in professional, fraternal 
and political circles. In all these he has risen to distinction through per- 
sonal merit, capability and the possession of sterling qualities of manhood. 
To be true to Seattle, true to his fellow men. true to himself, these are his 
highest ideals. 

EBENEZER SHORROCK. 

B3' reason of bis straightforward and conservative business policy and of 
the success he has achieved thereby, Ebenezer Shorrock occupies a prominent 
position in Seattle, being well known as president and manager of the North- 
west Tnist & Safe Deposit Company and manager of the Land Mortgage 
Bank of Nortb-W'estern America, Limited. 

Mr. Shorrock is a native of England, bis birlh having occurred in Lan- 
cashire on the 22d of December. 1859. His parents, now deceased, were 
James and Elizabeth (Brown) Shorrock. both of whom were natives of 
England and members of the Baptist church. Of his two brothers, one, the 
Rev. A. G. Shorrock. is a minister of that denomination in China, while the 
other. E. G. Shorrock, is a professional accountant in Seattle. 

Mr. Shorrock was educated in the public .schools and won the degree 
of Bachelor of Arts in the London L'niversity. He then entered upon his 
business career, in which he has since continued, the greater part of it, prior 
to his finally settling in this country, being spent in Manchester, Liverpool 
and London. He made frequent visits to the United States in connection 
with important financial interests and in 1896 was sent to Seattle by the 
Land Alortgage Bank of . North- Western .America to take charge of that 
company's extensive investments in the state of Washington. Becoming 
increasingly impressed with the future lying before the Pacific coast and 
Seattle especially, he decided upon making it his pennanent home and in 
1899 established the general financial and safe deposit business which in 1900 
was taken over by the Northwest Trust & Safe Deposit Company, which he 
organized for the purpose. This company has met with very gratifying 
success, embracing as it does general banking with a savings bank depart- 
ment, safe deposit, trust. in\estment and other departments. Mr. Shor- 
rock has coupled with his own interests those of the city of his adoption and 
is very active and influential in promoting all enterprises for the general 
good. He was elected trustee of the chamber of commerce in June, 1901, 
and is chairman of one of its committees. He is a member of the school 
board, treasurer of the Charity Organization Society and president of tlie 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 547 

Washing-ton Children's Home Society. His co-operation is heartily gi-'Cn 
to many movements for public improx'cment and his worth as a citizen is 
widely acknowdedged. 

In 1886 Mr. Shorrock married Miss Frances B. Bower, a native oi Der- 
byshire, England, and to them have been born three sons. Theirs is a beau- 
tifully situated residence on the corner of Highland Drive and Sevaith 
avenue, west, on Queen Anne Hill. Mr. Shorrock, while a Baptist in prin- 
ciples, is a prominent and influential member of Westminster Presbyterian 
church of Seattle, in which he is serving as a trustee and treasurer. He is 
an able financier, a progressive business man and is a notable addition to the 
financial circles of Seattle AltlvDugh he has resided here for a compara- 
tively brief period his capaljility is widely acknowledged and his social quali- 
ties have gained for him many friends. 

PATRICK C. HAYES. 

The gentleman to a review of whose life we now turn is one of the repre- 
sentative farmers and well known citizens of King county, whose postoffice 
address is O'Brien. He was born in county Limerick, Ireland, in February, 
1833. His father, Patrick Hayes, Sr., was born in the same county in 1785. 
During his youth the English govemment would not allow the Irish of the 
Catholic faith the advantages of the schools, but in spite of this he succeeded 
in becoming an accomplished scholar, receiving what is known as a "hedge" 
education, being taught secretly by persons who were ostensibly engaged in 
peddling or some other sort of itinerant occupation. As a life occupation 
Mr. Hayes chose the tilling of the soil. His wife was alsoa native of coun- 
ty Limerick, and to this worthy couple were born ten children. 

Patrick C. Hayes gained his first education in private scliools, the na- 
tional or public schools not having been established till he was ten years 
old, or in 1843, thirteen years after the Catholic emancipation bill had been 
passed. The great Daniel O'Connell was the advocate of this measure, who 
was the only Catholic member of the House of Commons at the time, and 
Mr. Hayes recalls having seen him before his death, which occurred in 1847. 
After his arrival in America, in January, 185 1, young Hayes completed his 
education in the schools of New York city. During the first seventeen 
months after his arrival in this country he was engaged in driving mules 
on the Lehigh & Delaware canal, and for five years thereafter he worked in 
the copper mines of Lake Superior. At the time of his arrival at the miries 



548 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

there were but two small vessels plying on the waters of the lake, one the 
side-wheel steamer Michigan and the schooner Aliner, fifty-six tons bur- 
den. In 1856, via the Isthmus of Panama, Mr. Hayes made the journey 
to the (Tolden state, where for two j-ears he was engaged in chopping cord 
wood in Nevada and Stanislaus counties, while at the same time he was 
prospecting and mining to a considerable extent in those localities. Leav- 
ing California in January, 1859, he arrived at Port Gamble, Washington, 
on the loth of February of that year, but after a residence there of 
six months he returned to the California mines, where he spent a similar 
period. His next occupation was logging on the Puget Sound, near 
Port Gamble, and in i860 he made a trip to Engle creek, east of the 
Rocky mountains, in search of gold, but his search proved unsuccessful, 
and in the fall of that year he came to the White river valley of Washing- 
ton. In the following year he leased a tract of two acres from John Cruni, 
on which he raised on the shares a large crop of onions, finding a ready sale 
for this commodity at an exceedingly high price, and with the proceeds he 
purchased his present farm, located near the village of Orillia, on the North- 
ern Pacific Railroad. His farm was originally the property of James Ash- 
well, who had secured it as a squatter's claim in an early day. At the time 
of the purchase his place consisted of one hundred and fifty-two acres, for 
which he paid fifty dollars an acre, and later, in 1892, he became the owner 
of an adjoining tract of one hundred and fifty acres of school land, the pur- 
chase ])rice being one hundred and ten dollars an acre. Of the original 
tract only ten acres had been cleared, and it required many years of arduous 
and persistent labor to remove the dense growth of trees and underbrush and 
bring it to its present high state of cultivation. The place is now one of the 
valuable ones of the White river valley, with its well kept fences, handsome 
and commodious buildings and highly improved fields. 

In 1876 Mr. Hayes planted the second crop of hops in King county, 
and from that time until 1892 he was one of the principal hop-raisers in the 
county, handling on an average one hundred thousand pounds a year. Dur- 
ing all this time, covering a period of eighteen years, he has also been en- 
gaged in the dairy business, now milking about one hundred cows. His 
farming operations are also conducted on an extensive scale : he raises each 
year large quantities of beets, hay and other commodities for winter feed, 
while his potato crop yields an average of four hundred bushels to the acre, 
and he devotes a large area to the production of the prolific tubers. Through- 
out his entire business career Mr. Hayes has labored faithfully and intelli- 
gentlv, and he justlv merits the high degree of success which is to-day his. 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 549 

His political support is given to the Democracy, and he is a strong advocate 
of all movements and measures that are calculated to advance morality. 

He was married first in Seattle, in February, 1865, to Bridget Burns, 
who was born in county Clare, Ireland, and who died in 1880, leaving five 
children, namely: John, a resident of Skagit county, Washington; Mary, 
the wife of Frank C. Owens, an attorney of Olympia; Ella, who married 
Lieutenant Edwin L. Rains; Agnes, the wife of Frank E. Webb; and Anis- 
tatia, who resides at home. In 1882, at San Jose, California, Mr. Hayes 
was united in marriage to Margaret Stewart, who was bom in county Lim- 
erick, Ireland, in 1857, and came to this country in 1875. Throughout his 
long and useful life Mr. Hayes has been guided by principles of right and 
justice, and he has ever held the respect and esteem of all who know him. 

FREDERICK KIRSCHNER. 

To know Frederick Kirschner was to like him, to esteem him and to 
entertain for him high regard, and his was an acquaintance that wore well, 
his oldest friends being his best friends. This fact alone indicated that he 
possessed many sterling traits of character and the proof of this was also 
found in his business life, where he bore a reputation for enterprise and reli- 
ability that was very enviable. He passed away June 29, 1897, his death 
being deeply regretted by those to v.diom he had endeared himself by his 
sunny nature, genial disposition and many kindly acts. 

Frederick Kirschner was born on the 21st of May, 1856, in Cincinnati, 
Ohio, and was of German descent. In a family of six children, four sons 
and two daughters, he was the eldest. His brothers, Gustave, John and 
George, are all living in Seattle. His sister, Mrs. Lizzie Phillips, is a resi- 
dent of Barnesville, Minnesota, while Mrs. Mary Kinsey is living in Ar- 
cadia, Wisconsin. During his early boyhood Frederick Kirschner accom- 
panied his parents on their removal to Alma, Wisconsin, where his youtli 
rt'as passed in the acquirement of a good education. He remained a resident 
of that state until 1884, when, recognizing the excellent business opportuni- 
ties of the rapidly developing northwest, he came to Seattle, where he made 
his home until called to his final rest. Here in company with his father-in- 
law and his brother-in-law he founded the Bay View brewery, the pioneer 
lager beer brewery in Washington. This was conducted with a constantly 
increasing patronage until 1893, when it was consolidated with the Claussen- 
Sweeney Brewing Company and the Albert Braun Brewing Association un- 
der the name of the Seattle Brewing & Malting Company. Upon the or- 



350 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

ganization of tlie new company Mr. Kirschner was unanimously elected treas- 
urer, which position he continued to fdl up to the time of his death, and his 
ability as a financier, his keen business discernment and his enterprise were po- 
tent factors in the prosperous conduct of the new concern. 

Before leaving W'isconsin ^Ir. Kirsclincr was united in marriage to 
Miss Emma Ilemrich, and to them were l)orn three children, who with their 
mother survive. Emily, the daughter, is the wife of O. E. Maurer of the 
Bay View Bottling Works; William IT. is also connected with the Bay View 
Bottling Works; and Andrew 1-".. the younger son, is still in school. Mr. 
Kirschner erected a fine residence at Bay View in 1892. It stands upon a 
splendid building site, overlooking the lake, and a beautiful view is thus 
always afforded. Mr. Kirschner was connected with a number of fraternal 
and social organizations, including the Sons of Hermann and the Turnverein, 
and was very popular among his associates of those organizations. He was 
progressive and public spirited and freely gave to many movements for the 
adornment of the city or for the promotion of enterprises for the public 
good. In his family he was a devoted husband and father and extremely 
fond of his home. There with his wife and children he delighted to dispense 
a cordial hospitality to their many friends. In manner he was genial and 
social, and his cordiality and freedom from ostentation won him the warm- 
est regard of those with whom he came in contact. He possessed, too, ex- 
cellent business ability and had a genius for devising and executing the right 
thing at the right time. Thus in the cultivation of those qualities which tend 
to success in lousiness and which win respect in private life. Frederick Kirsch- 
ner so li\-ed that his death was a matter of profi.>und regret to those who had 
known him. 

JOHN C. PETERSON. 

John C. Peterson, residing at 1632 Tenth avenue west, is one of the 
important factors in the business circles of Seattle, where he is now suc- 
cessfidly engaged in the building of fine gasoline latmches. The possibili- 
ties that America offers to her citizens he has utilized, and though he came to 
this country in limited circumstances he has steadily and perseveringly 
worked his way upward, leaving the ranks of the many to stand among the 
successful few. 

Mr. Peterson was born in central Norway on the 17th of April. 1843, a 
son of Peter Johnson and Sarah (Christianson) Peterson, in whose family 
were six children. By occupation the father was a farmer, and on the home 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 55 1 

place our subject was reared, remainng there until 1869, which year wit- 
nessed his emigration to the United States. Landing in New York city he 
proceeded at once to St. Paul, Minnesota, where he spent five years. In 
1874 he came to the Pacific coast and for nine years made his home in Port- 
land. Oregon, wliere he was engaged in contract building. While there he 
was united in marriage to Miss Annie E. Oleson, also a native of Norway, 
where he had first known her. keeping up the acquaintance during his resi- 
dence in St. Paul. To them were born two children: Tilda; and Elliott, 
who is a graduate of the Seattle high school and business college and is now 
a machinist in the employ of the Seattle Electrical Company. They also 
have an adopted daughter, Lina, who has made her home with them since 
the age of ten years. 

Mr. Peterson purchased pnjperty in I'ortland and built a ccjmfortable 
home, continuing his residence there until the fall of 1883, when he came to 
Seattle. In partnership with two other gentlemen he purchased forty acres 
of land on what is now known as West Queen Anne Hill, and on the divison 
of the property he received ten acres, on which he erected a house. He be- 
gan clearing the place and getting it ready for platting. Later with his brother, 
N. B. Peterson, and N. Brason, he platted the Crown addition to the city 
of Seattle and subsequently the Crown supplemental addition, which was 
rapidly sold out. In 1891 he built the First Norwegian ^Methodist Episcopal 
cliurch at the corner of Olive and Fifth .streets at an expense of seven thous- 
and dollars, giving the congregation six years to pay for it, which resulted 
in financial loss to him. He also built the Swedish Methodist Episcopal 
church on Fifth avenue between Pike and Pine streets, donating his services. 
For several years he followed contracting and building, erecting a great 
many residences in various parts of the city, but for the past four years has 
given his attention principally to the building of high class gasoline launches, 
constructing nothing but the best that good material and superior workman- 
ship can produce. 

Mr. Peterson still retains fifteen lots of his original tract. In 1892 
he erected his present fine residence, which is a two story structure with a 
basement, and the home is noted for its hospitality, the many friends of the 
family always being sure of a hearty welcome within its doors. In poli- 
tics he is a Republican, but at local elections he votes independently of party 
lines, and is very liberal in his views on public questions. He is a prominent 
and influential member of Trinity Methodist church and has served on its 
official board for a number of years. Coming to this country a poor boy, 
indebted to his friends for funds to secure his passage, he deserves great 



5 52 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

credit for what he has accuiiipHshed in Hfe, his success being due entirely to 
his own well directed efforts. Upright and honorable in all things, he com- 
n!ands the respect and confidence of all with whom he is brought in contact 
either in business or social life. 

WILLIAM FARRAND PROSSER. 

William Farrand Prosser, the late president of the Historical Society 
of the state of Washington and the editor of the Washington Historian, 
which is a very interesting and instructive monthly publication, filled with 
papers, documents and biographical sketches concerning the history of the 
state and relating to its progress and development as one of the states of the 
American Union. The Colonel is a pioneer upon the Pacific, having taken up 
his abode in California in 1854. He is also one of the early settlers of 
Washington and one of its best informed citizens. He has a very wide ac- 
quaintance and has made an honorable record as a soldier, as a public officer 
and as a Christian gentleman. 

Colonel William F. Prosser is a native of Williamsport. Pennsylvania, 
his birth having occurred March 16, 1834, and he is of Welsh lineage. His 
parents were David and Rachel (Williams) Prosser, both of whom were 
born in W'ales and in 1832 emigrated to the United States, settling in Cambria 
county. Pennsylvania. The father was a miner, actively connected with the 
industrial interests of the Keystone state. He not only operated largely in 
coal but was chiefly instrumental in securing the establishing of the Cambria 
Iron W'orks at Johnstown. His wife died in that place in 1842, leaving him 
with four children. He afterward married again and by the second union 
had six children. The second wife, a daughter and four grandchildren were 
lost in the great Johnstown flood, one of the most terrible disasters which has 
ever occurred in the history of the country. Colonel Prosser's brother, 
IMajor A. Sidney Prosser, died at Knoxville. Tennessee. He was a valiant 
soldier in the Union army, sen-ing in the Second Tennessee Cavalry, and 
was a successful and distinguished practitioner of law at Knoxville at the 
time of his death. John G. Prosser, another brother of the Colonel, is a 
railroad man of Nebraska. 

In taking up the personal history of our subject we present to our readers 
I he life record of one highly esteemed in the northwest. He was educated in 
the public schools of his native state and in the Johnstown Academy. For 
two years he engaged in teaching school in Cambria coiuity, Pennsylvania, 
and because of ill health he sought a change of climate, crossing the plains in 




"lJU£C<^^^c-f~C^ 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 553 

1854. On tlie 1st of IVIay of that year he left Independence, Missouri, witli 
a i)art\- of twelve youno- men, all from Pennsylvania. They made the j(jumey 
with ox teams and on the wa\- the Colonel stood guard c\-ery night from half 
past ten until half past one. The journey was a long and arduous one and 
they experienced some trouble with the Indians. In California they stopped 
tirst at Dutch Flat in Placer county, where the Colonel ate his first good meal 
after leaving Missouri. From that place he proceeded to the Middle Fork 
, of the American river and was engaged in placer mining during the re- 
mainder of the year, but met with very moderate success. He then went to 
Sacramento and afterward to San Francisco and in the spring of 1855 he 
made his way to Trinity county to try his luck at placer mining, taking up his 
abode near Weaverville. He there secured in one day gold to the amount 
of one hundred and twenty dollars, but on die whole his mining experiences 
were not as profitable as lie had expected antl he removed to Shasta county, 
California. There he engaged in mining on the Middle Fork of the Cotton- 
wood, but in 1857 returned to Trinity county and lived at Indian Creek, turn- 
ing his attention to the work of carrying express from Weaverville to Indian 
Creek. He was also' engaged in mining to some extent. 

In 1858, at the call of the governor of California for troops, Colonel Pros- 
ser enlisted and was elected second lieutenant of the Trinity county rangers. 
They proceeded at once to Humboldt county and were actively engaged in 
the service of the state against the Indians along the Eel river and along Alad 
ri\er in the \icinity of Humboldt Bay. They had many severe encounters 
with the red men and a number of the company were killed while others were 
wounded. That was a very severe campaign during the winter and spring and 
in the latter season they crossed the mountains covered with snow from one 
tu ten feet deep. It was a time of severe suffering. Senator J. P. Jones was a 
member of the company, then serving as private clerk to the captain. The 
troops finally returned to Trinity county and were mustered out in April, 1859, 
The campaign had been a very successful though an arduous one, and they had 
captured many Indians and so got the remainder of the red men to cease their 
depredations. Upon his return Colonel Prosser again engaged in mining on 
Canyon creek. In i860 he was nominated by the Republicans for the state 
legislature and was the party's first candidate after its organization. He 
made a very strong campaign but as the district had a very large Democratic 
majority he was defeated by a small vote. The following spring the great 
Civil war burst upon the country and Colonel P'rosser went east to take part in 
the defense of the Union. He enlisted as a private in the .\nderson Troop 
which was sent to Louisville. Kentucky, and there became tlie body guard of 
35 



554 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

(".eneral BucU, being attaclied to his headquarters for special dut\-. They 
went with the army to Nashville and thence to Shiloh, participating in the 
battle at the latter place and in the subsequent operations of General Buell 
until they reached Florence, Alabama. While on the march to Huntsville 
Colonel Prosser was detached by General Buell to go across the country to 
Nashville, Tennessee, with requisition for stores and supplies needed by the 
army, and while on the way he was captured by a detachment of Morgan's 
Confederate Cavalry. They took from him his horse and arms, then paroled 
him and turned him loose in the woods to make his way as best he could. He 
walked to Columbia, Tennessee, a distance of about forty miles, in order to 
.each the Union lines. He then proceeded to Nashville and reported the 
facts to General Buell. He was sent to Annapolis. Maryland, until an ar- 
rangement could I)e made for his exchange, and in that city he was assigned 
to duty with the paroled soldiers from Pennsylvania, there being a large num- 
Ijer. Mr Prosser remained at that point from June until September before 
he was exchanged, but at the latter date he was ordered to Carlisle, Pennsyl- 
vania, to assist in the organization of the Fifteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry, 
serving as the first quartermaster oi the regiment. He took an active part 
in the battle of Murfreesboro, and soon after the engagement, at the request 
of the adjutant-general of the state of Tennessee, he was transferred to the 
Second Tennessee Ca\-alry. acting as its adjutant until IMarch, 1863. At that 
time he was commissioned major of the regiment, serving in the latter capac- 
ity until March. 1864, when he received the commission of lieutenant colonel, 
and in June. 1865, he was made a colonel, these promotions having been con- 
ferred upon him for active and efficient service. During the time of his con- 
nection with the army he participated in a large number of battles, skirmishes 
and field engagements, including the battles of Shiloh. ]\Iurfreesboro and 
Chickamauga. the siege of Knoxville, the siege of Decatur and many other 
engagements. In the latter j^art of 1R64 he had command of the cavalry in 
the district of north Alabama, with headquarters at Decatur, and ]M"otected 
the railroad line during- Hood's operations in Tennessee up to the battle of 
Nashville. Oh the 6th of July, 1865, he was mustered out of the service at 
that city. He had ne\-er received a wound but had suffered greatly from 
hardships and exposure and his health had become much impaired through 
the malaria in that ])art of the country in which his military operations were 
executed. 

Owing to the beauty of the country and its rich promise for the future 
Mr. Prosser settled near Nashville, and purchased a farm seven miles from 
that city. There he engaged in numerous pursuits looking to the development 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 55 5 

of the resources of the country. In 1867, without his knowledge, he was 
nominated by the Repubhcan party of Davidson county, in which Nashville is 
located, as one of its candidates for the state legislature, but not wishing to en- 
gage in political strife he declined the nomination. Subsequently, however, at 
the solicitation of the leading men of the party who believed that he could be 
very useful in the work of the legislature, growing out of the conditions arising 
as a result of the war, lie consented and entered upon a most exciting and dan- 
gerous campaign owing to the bitterness of feeling which had hardly abated 
after the close of the war. He made a successful canvass, however, and was 
elected. In the legislature he took an active and leading part in the work of 
the house, with the result that his district recognized his usefulness and named 
him for Congress the following year. Again he passed through another ex- 
citing campaign in which tliere was great personal danger, but he made 
speeches throughout his portion of the state and held joint debates with the 
opposing candidate. That he enjoyed in a high degree the confidence of his 
fellow townsmen was shown by his second election and he ser\-ed his first 
term in the forty-first congress of the United States. His congressional 
work consisted chiefly in advancing the cause of popular education in the 
south and of promoting industrial improvements. He championed every 
measure calculated to rebuild the shattered interests of the south and his 
efforts were very efifective and beneficial. He caused the impro^■ement of the 
Cumberland ri\-er to be begun, a work that has since been continued by Con- 
gress down to the present time. At the close of his service in the national 
halls he received the position of postmaster of Nashville, Tennessee, an office 
which he filled in a most satisfactory manner for three years. In 1872 he 
was appointed one of the commissioners from the state of Tennessee to the 
centennial exposition in Philadelphia and took an acti\e part in the prepara- 
tions necessary for that national celebration. In June, 1S73, he was ap- 
pointed one of a commission for the purpose of visiting the world's fair at 
Vienna and took notes concerning the methods there employed with reference 
to making arrangements for the exposition in this country in 1876. On this 
trip he visited the principal cities of Europe and in connection with the prep- 
aration for the exposition at Philadelphia he visited that city very frequently 
during a period of seven years. In 1876 and 1878 Colonel Prosser was again 
the nominee of his party for Congress, but the party having met with reverses 
he and many friends suffered defeat. 

Owing to continued ill health growing out of his service in the Civil war 
Mr. Prosser resolved to return to the Pacific coast, and in 1879 he was ap- 
pointed special agent for the general land office in Washington. In this 



5 56 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

capacity he again came west and rendered the government important 
services in tiie territories of Washington and IcLiho and the state of Oregon. 
In 1885, when President Cleveland became the cliief execntive of the United 
States, he was retired. In the meantime he had located a homestead, in 1882, 
in Yakima county, where the town of Prosser, named in his honor, has since 
been established on the line of the Northern Pacific Railroad. There he 
maintained his home for a number of years, living in true pioneer style. The 
markets on all sides of him were at great distances and one had to travel 
many miles through a sparsely settled region, chiefly occupied by Indians, 
making the journey by team in order to bring the supplies to his lo- 
cality. Colonel Prosser was elected in 1889 to represart in part the coun- 
ties of Yakima and Klickitat in the constitutional convention which was 
called to meet at Olympia on the 4th of July, 1889, to frame the consti- 
tution for the state of Washington. He took a very active and helpful part 
in the work of the convention and was particularly instrumental in securing 
to the school fund of the state a large amount of money through the econo- 
mical disposition of the school lands^ In 1890, at the special request of Gov- 
ernor Elisha P. Feny, he accepted the appointment as a member of the Har- 
bor Line Commission, of which he was president, and in endeavoring to pro- 
tect the interests of the people of the state upon the water front of its principal 
cities this committee came into conflict with many private interests. This 
made the two and one-half years in which the commission served a most try- 
ing time, exceptionally annoying, and was hampered by much litigation, 
fourteen suits in all being brought against the commission in the superior 
courts of the state and in the supreme court of the United States. Every 
means available were used against them but through all the commission main- 
tained its integrity and was successful in every case. Since the termination 
of his services as president of the Harbor Line Commission, Mr. Prosser 
has given his attention to his private interests, yet his fellow citizens were not 
content to allow him to remain in private life and in 1893 he was elected as 
mayor of the city of North Yakima, serving for two years. He was made 
a school director of that city for two terms and since that lime he has been 
actively engaged with work in connection with the State Historical Society, 
of which he has been president since 1899 and editor of the Washington His- 
torian, a very valuable and most ably edited and managed monthly. The 
Colonel is also engaged in the handling of real estate both for himself and for 
others, having an office in the New York block in the rapidly growing city 
of Seattle, where he now resides. 

The Colonel was happily married in this city in 1880 to Miss Flora L. 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 557 

Thornton, a native of Oregon and a daughter of Henry G. Tliornton of Ports- 
mouth, Ohio, and one of the Oregon pioneers of 1S53. ni whicli year he 
brought his family across the plains. Colonel and Mrs. Prosser have one son 
and two daug"hters : William Thornton, who is now a reporter on the Post 
Intelligencer of Seattle; Margaret Helen and Mildred Cyrenia, who are at 
home. The Colonel and his interesting family are members of the Episcopal 
church, of which he has been vestryman for twenty years. He has a very 
wide acquaintance and no man in all the northwest is held in higher regard 
than he, for in his public service he has commanded the confidence of all. His 
life has indeed been a useful one to his fellow men and the iionors that have 
been conferred upon him have been well merited. 

CHARLES M. ANDERSON. 

The above named gentleman, who is cjuite prominent in the business and 
railroad circles of Seattle, is the eldest of the six children of Professor Alex- 
ander Jay Anderson, the distinguished educator, and it is not too much to say 
that he is such a son as such a father would naturally like to have. In fact, 
it must be a source of pride to tliis worthy father to observe how well all 
his living children are succeeding in the world, and how much they have 
profited bv his parental precepts, bcith those of a domestic and those of a 
professional character. T\\o of his sons, as will appear later, have followed 
in his footsteps as teachers, and bid fair to rise high in the educational world. 
The other two hold influential positions in connection with important busi- 
ness corporations, wliile the husband of the only daughter is state agent of 
one of the large insurance companies. In fact, this is quite an interesting fam- 
ily in more ways than one and exactly the kind so pleasant to contemplate 
as typical of the boundless energy, unfailing courage and conquering ambi- 
tion which characterize the dominant element m this country to which our 
marvelous national progress is due. The Andersons are but one of many 
that we see and read about, who face the world with no other fortune than 
willing hands and bright heads and soon win success for themsel\-es and 
then for others and in the aggregate make up the grand army of men of ac- 
tion who are pushing forward the mighty rei)ublic in its unward march to 
greatness and glory. 

In the somewhat elaborate sketch of Professor .Xnderson full details 
are given of his own career and such particulars as were available concerning 
his parents, so it will not be necessary to repeat any of them in this biography 
of his son. Charles M. Anderson was born at Lexington. Tllinois, lanuarv 



5 58 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

3, 1S58, and with such a lather as he had it is hardly necessary to add thai 
liis early education was not neglected. This boy,, however, seems to have 
imbibed from the great national liard of his ancestral land the true secret of 
success as expressed in Burns' famous "Letter to a Young Friend :" 

"To catch Dame I'ortune's golden smile. 

Assiduous wait upon her. 
And gather gear by every wile that's justified liy honor; 

Not for to hide it in a hedge. 

Not for a train attendant. 
But for the glorious privilege of being independent." 

The youth- of true grit hates dependence above all things, and longs for 
the time to escape the home cage and carve out a competency for himself. 
Young Anderson, therefore, even before reaching the age of maturity was 
revolving schemes to become a great captain of industry, his special ambition 
being to make an engineer of himself. When twelve years old he began to 
learn this profession, and a year later was connected with a railroad in that 
capacity. It was, of course, a boy's job and performed during the summer 
vacation when school was not in session. In January, 1878, he joined his 
father to assi.st as teacher in the territorial university which he was then 
endeavoring to resuscitate at Seattle, and held this position for the following 
three and a half years. Later he went to \Valla Walla to take his brother's 
place as assistant teacher in Whitman College, of which his father then had 
charge, but only remained there a year and returned to Seattle, where he had 
previously opened an office for the transaction of business connected with en- 
gineering. He laid out the city's iirst water-works plant, known as the 
Yeder system, and later the McNaught and Jones systems. He served also 
as county engineer, and extended the street-car line from Columbia to Renton. 
At least a fourth of the present enterprising city of Seattle was laid out by 
this energetic young engineer at a time when others of his age have hardly 
left college. He made the first mineral survey in the state of Washington 
and subdivided a good many of the sections of King county, particularly in the 
vicinity of Seattle. He was engineer of the Moore Investment Company, 
made the topographical map of Capital Hill in its interest and is now its 
consulting engineer. In 1884 he organized the Anderson Engineering Com- 
pany and incorporated the same in 1892. He has done considerable work 
for the state on the tide flat lands, and served as land surveyor under contract 
with the national government. In 1897 Mr. Anderson made a trip to 
Alaska and did considerable expert work there for various comi)anies and 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 559 

determined the feasibility of tlie route for the hue of the Alaska Central 
Railroad Company, and when the latter was organized in 1902 he was ap- 
pointed chief engineer. 

Mr. Anderson has always had a taste for military matters, and has fig- 
ured somewhat conspicuously in this line since coming to Washington. 
Shortly after liis arrival at .Seattle he organized a battalion among the uni- 
versity students. He was also one of the organizers of the Seattle Rifles, 
which served during the Chinese riots. He was a member of the military 
board during the period of organization of the National Guard of Washing- 
ton, and was colonel commander of the Second Regiment of the State Guard. 
He organized a regiment consisting of eight companies in eastern Washing- 
ton, of which he was the colonel in command, and four of these companies 
are now serving in the Philippines. ^Ir. Anderson is a Republican in poli- 
tics, and served as delegate to various territorial and county conventions and 
in the state convention of 1902. September 19, 1889, he was married in 
Seattle to Aliss Laura, daughter of William A. JNlcPherson, a merchant at 
Seattle. The children, consisting of three daughters and a son, are Mary, 
Isabella, Lizzie Ferry, Laura Marjorie and Chester ^^IcPherson. 

JOHN RIPLINGER. 

No outside aid or influence, no family connection or fortunate environ- 
n;ents have assisted John Riplinger in his career, wdiich, however, has been 
an active and successful one, and he has attained to prominence in public affairs 
and gained the respect and confidence of all with whom he has been associ- 
ated. He is now serving as city comptroller and is ex-officio city clerk. 
Born in Minnesota on the 12th of October, 1864, his paternal ancestors came 
from Loraine, France. His father, Nicholas Riplinger, emigrated to Amer- 
ica in 1852 and located in Minnesota, where he engaged in agricultural pur- 
suits until 1888, at which time he sought a home in Washington, locating in 
Skagit county, where he spent his remaining days, departing this life in 1895. 
While in Minnesota he served as a member of the board of county commis- 
sioners from 1878 until 1886 and then declined a re-nomination. He was a 
leader in public affairs and his loyalty in citizenship and devotion to the gen- 
eral good made him \\ell qualified for office. In the family were eight chil- 
dren and with the exception of three all are yet living. 

John Riplinger was a student in the public schools of Minnesota in his 
early days, but has not been able to attend school since the age of thirteen, 
although reading, experience and observation have broadened his knowledge 



56o REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

an'd increased his usefulness as a factor in business and official life. He 
remained on the home tarm until he was eighteen years of age and then 
entered the oftice of the county auditor. Later he began learning the printer's 
tradeand in the spring of 18S7 he engaged in the newspaper business on his 
own account, but owing to ill health he sold his paper in 1890 and came to 
Seattle, intending to aiter the field as a publisher here. Instead, however, 
he accepted a position in the office of the county treasurer. In 1891 the legis- 
lature enacted a law to re\-ise the manner of assessing the county property, 
which under the oM system had become greatly confused. The property 
had been assessed only as reported by the owners and the rest was credited 
to "unknown owners." Some pieces were thus assessed twice and others not 
at .all. It was therefore arranged by townships numerically and Mr. Rip- 
linger was gi\-en charge of this very important and extensive work, which he 
performed so satisfactorily, however, that upon the completion of the task 
he was ap])ointed chief clerk in December, 1891. He was in the office of the 
countv treasurer until the sjiring of 1895. when he began prospecting and 
mining in British Columbia, being thus engaged until October, 1897. -At 
the latter date he returned to Seattle and was given employment by Mr. Col- 
vin, who was recei\-er for the Front Street Railroad Company, and for whom 
he served as accountant. On the ist of January. 1898. he was appointed by 
Mr. Parrv to the position of chief clerk in the office of the city comptroller, 
v.-'ti. ^'•!iom he served for two and one-half years, and afterward held the 
same office with ^Ir. I^aul. He acted in that capacity until the election of 
tlie spring of 1902. At that time the Republicans nominated him for the po- 
sition of city comptroller, and the result of the election was very greatly to 
his credit. He has always been a Republican and has attended a number of 
city and county conventions and has been one of the most active workers in 
his partv. His long service in the office of chief clerk eminently (|ualified 
him for the duties of the office and that he has made many friends is evi- 
denced bv the fact that the majority he received was the largest ever given in 
the citv, it lacking but one vote of reaching thirty-five hundred, while the 
rnayor of Seattle was elected by only six hundred fifteen. No higher testi- 
monial of ]\Ir. Riplinger's capability, his loyalty to the trust reposed in him 
and his personal ])opulanty could be given. 

Jn December, 1888, in Minnesota, Mr. Riplinger married .\da Lavina 
Richards, and they' have one daughter, Marie. They have a good home in 
the city and Mr. Riplinger acquired some farming interests in Skagit county. 
He belongs to various fraternrd and social organizations, including the 
Benevolent and Protective Order of f'.lks : the Knights of Pythias: the I'ra- 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 561 

ternal Order of Eagles; the Workmen; the Woodmen of the World; the 
Royal Arcanum and the Seattle Athletic Club. He finds hunting and fish- 
ing a pleasant means of relaxation and recreation from his strenuous official 
and business cares. He is a man in whose life is exemplified the best traits 
of American manhood and good-fellowship. He has a deep and abiding in- 
terest in his fellow men, a genial nature and a kindly disposition. He is 
a self-educated and a self-made man, and such a record Americans hold in 
the highest regard. 

.ALEXANDER JAY ANDERSON. 

The educational annals of the northwest present few names which shine 
with a brighter luster as the result of good deeds done and great work ac- 
complished than the one which forms the caption of this paragraph. Per- 
haps no one who has labored in his line gave greater emphasis to Young's 
famous remark in his "Night Thoughts" that it is a "delightful task to rear 
the tender mind and teach the young idea how to shoot." Professor Anderson 
was not only enamored with his task but took especial delight in grappling 
with the young idea, and it must have been a \ery obdurate subject that 
pro\-ed unyielding to his persuasive methods. If any one of the generations 
of bright students who benefited by his instruction were assigned the duty 
of inditing these pages they would make them fairly glow with praises of 
their old preceptor and loving tributes to his fatherly care. His career, ex- 
tending over a period of thirty-five years, embraced work of great responsi- 
bility and difficulty in many institutions of three states of the Union. His 
success in each charge was not only marked but cumulative, as his efficiency, 
increasing with experience, made each achievement an improvement over the 
last. At length he was able to retire with that highest of all plaudits, "^^'eIl 
done, thou g^ood and faithful servant," and an army of alumni, graduated 
under his fostering ministrations, loudly acclaim their admiration and undy- 
ing affection for Alexander Jay Anderson. 

One naturally thinks of Scotland when hearing of great educators, as 
more good teachers have come out fmm the rocky borders of Old Scotia 
than any other equal territory in the world, in fact, before the days of pub- 
lic schools in the United States the chief dependence for teachers was upon 
the Scotch, who seemed to have special talent for managing unruly pupils, 
as well as leading the reluctant along the thorny paths of knowledge. It 
is no surprise, therefore, to learn thai Alexander Jay Anderson is of Scot- 
tish lineage, both on the side of father and mother, though he perhaps re- 



562 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

grets with a Scotchman's pardonable i)i"i(le t'.iat the "nonor of nativity in the 
land of Bums was withheld from him In- fortuitous circumstances. It so 
happened that his father, Joseph Anderson, liad a building contract at Grey 
.Abljcy, near Belfast, Ireland, and it was while his parents were temporarily 
residing there that the future instructor was born November 6, 1832. I'he 
father, however, had previously come to America when seventeen years of 
age, hut after acquiring citizenship had returned to Scotland, where his mar- 
riage occurred. Five years later he again crossed the ocean and took up a 
homestead in New York, on the banks of the St. Lawrence. There he met 
his death accidentally while felling a tree, after which untoward event his 
widow, with her little children, removed to Illinois and located at Lockpurt. 
Alexander Jay was but six months old when the family reached these shores 
and his boyhood was passed amid the privations incident to life on the 
frontier. He. however, had the ambition lor learning, which seems indi- 
genous in the Scotch character, antl we lind him at an early period making 
every effort to gratify his aspirations. Despite the loving assistance of an 
elder sister and a good mother's afifectionate aid, numerous stumbling blocks 
were found in the way, and it was proved in this case, as in many others, that 
the road to know-ledge is by no means royal. School attendance was irreg- 
ular, owing to demands made upon the 3'oung man's time for work in the 
store, the printing of^ce and at the teacher's desk, as the family exigencies 
demanded. Finally, however, as they say in the rude but expressive slang 
of the west, young Anderson "got there." and in 1856 was made happy by 
the reception of the degree of .\. B. from Knox College at Galesburg, 
Illinois, which may be regarded as tlie starting point in what was to prove 
his life work. But Professor Anderson looks back to the years before his 
graduation as fraught with elements of great value in securing his future 
success, on account of the business training then acquired, especially that re- 
ceived in the printing office. 

His first teaching was done at Lisbon, and later he had charge of a 
school at Lexington, Illinois, but meantime he assisted in the publication 
of an educational w-ork in Chicago. .\t an early period in his career Pro- 
fessor -Anderson exhibited that talent, as rare as it is useful, for taking hold 
of run-down institutions and rehabilitating ihcm by expert executive man- 
agement, coupled with thorough instruction. This happened not once init 
several times, and it was in such crises as these that he found use for the 
business knowledge early acquired, which is seldom united in the same per- 
son with the talent for teaching. When, in i86r, he took charge of the 
Fowler Institute at Newark, Illinois, it Irid but six pupils, but this number 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 563 

had been increased to three hundretl wlien Professor Anderson resigned after 
an ardnous experience of six years. 

But after many years of successful teaching in Ilhnois Professor Ander- 
son decided that it was his duty to come to the northwest and give this com- 
paratively new section the benefit of his experience as an educator. It was a 
decision, however, which cost a great sacrifice, as he was to get but twelve 
hundred dollars in his new field as against eighteen hundred dollars already 
being recei\ed in his home state, and an increase to two thousand dollars if 
he would agree to remain. He had made up his mind, however, and in 
i860, upon the completion of the Central Pacific Railroad, he abandoned 
the field of his former labors and turned his face toward the setting sun. 
His first charge in the northwest was as principal of Tualitin Academy, an 
endowed Congregational institution at Forest Grove, Oregon, and the pre- 
paratory department of the Pacific University. ^Marked success was 
achieved in this position, but after four years as principal and one as pro- 
fessor of mathematics in the uni\'ersity he accepted a call to Portland. At 
this capital he served two years as principal of the Central school and the fol- 
lowing one as principal of the high school, all the time adding to his rqjuta- 
tion both as an instructor and executive ofiicial. About this time Professor 
Anderson had an opportunity to display his genius for renovating decayed 
institutions, heretofore mentioned as one of his marked characteristics. The 
university established by the territory of Washington was in a languishing 
state, having failed several times and then been tried as a private school, but 
never proving a success. Though the largest building in Seattle it had been 
closed some time when, in 1871, Professor Anderson was in\ited by the re- 
gents to become president and endeavor to revive this moribund establish- 
ment. At first he and his wife were the only teachers, but at the end of six 
months they were joined by their son, Charles i\I. As pupils increased new 
teachers were added in the various departments and soon signs of life began 
to be manifest in this lately enfeebled institution. Owing to former failures 
the legislature was reluctant to extend pecuniary aid, but by herculean efifort 
in Olympia at the winter session Professor Anderson, assisted by some of the 
regents, prevailed upon the legislature to lend a helping hand. An annual 
appropriation of two thousand dollars, extending for two years, was granted, 
but this was coupled with a promise that by the first of March there should 
be in attendance thirty free scholars to he appointed by members of the legis- 
lature. It took the hardest kind of work to comply with this feature of the 
act, but the effort was successful and two years at least provided for. The 
next legislature, however, adjourned without making a continuing appropri- 



564 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

ation, and Professor Anderson was at his wits' end to devise some scheme to 
keep his scliool going. At this point of desperation, however, as often hap- 
pens in the affairs of men, the "good angel" appeared with timely assist- 
ance. The superior nature of the work done in reviving the collapsed in- 
stitution had attracted the attenion of many, and. among others, of Henry 
Viilard, the then powerful president of the Northern Pacific Railroad Com- 
pany. This enterprising gentleman kindly came to the rescue, and for the 
next two years ga\e his personal check for the same amount previously given 
b}- the legislature. In the meantime President Anderson had got the courses 
of instruction up to the regular collegiate standard, and the institution was 
well upon its feet, so that the next legislature did not hesitate to furnish the 
necessary funds. Pupils were in attendance from all sections of the terri- 
tory' and some from the state of Oregon. Normal and business classes were 
graduated in 1880 and college classes in 1881 and 1882. When President 
Anderson resigned at the end of this school year there were over three hun- 
dred pupils, and the institution had been re-established upon a permanent 
basis. 

Whitman Seminarv was the scene of Professor Anderson's next and, as 
it proved, final labors in the field of practical education. This institution had 
been established by Cushing Eells in honor of Marcus Whitman, whose his- 
toric journey over the Rocky mountains to \\'ashington in the winter of 
1842-43 is regarded as the main factor in saving Oregon to the Union. 
Upon his advent, in 1882, as presiding genius of this institution Professor 
Anderson had the name changed to Whitman College, and the freshman 
class of that \ear constituted the first graduates in 1886. The second year 
was marked by the erection of a large building, at the present time called Old 
College Hall, but for years it was the place where all of Whitman's educa- 
tional work was conducted. The same year brought from the legislature 
the amended charter, which vastly enlarged the scope, facilities and oppor- 
tunities of the college. Under President Anderson's quickening touch the 
institution grew apace, increased steadily in prosperity, and its graduates 
were in demand both in business and professional circles. The great educa- 
tional institutions of the east set their approval upon the thorough training 
received at Whitman, and by general concensus the extraordinary merit of 
its revivor was warmly acknowledged. .After nine years of hard, conscien- 
tious and faithful labor performed as its president Professor Anderson re- 
tired from the control of Whitman College, and thus ended his active edu- 
cational career of thirty-fi^•e years" duration. Though cherishing most 
pleasant recollections of all the schools he has had in charge. Professor An- 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. S^S 

derson revei-ts with especial fondness ^o the days spent at "Old Whitman," 
which he regards as the special child of his creation. This- sentiment on his 
p.irt is freely reciprocated by the alumni and students who enjoyed the rare 
advantages of his administration and learned to love him as the head of their 
alma mater. 

In the fall of 1856 Professor .Anderson was united in marriage with 
Miss Louisa M. Phelps, whose birth occurred on the shores of the lovely 
Lake Chautauqua, seat of the famous school of learning that bears its name. 
Mrs. Anderson is of distinguished lineage, her ancestors having come from 
England and settled in Massachusetts a few years after the founding of 
Boston. The six children are as follows: Charles ^L, president of the An- 
derson Engineering Company at Seattle: Oliver P., president of the Ander- 
son Supply Company of Seattle; Louis F., professor of Greek in Whitman 
College, being the first graduate from the classical course in the University 
of Washington; Alexander Jay, Jr., deceased; George P., principal of a pri- 
vate school in Seattle; Helen H., wife of F. N. ]\IcCandless, state agent of 
the Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Company. It might be well to add in 
conclusion that among the honors conferred upon Professor Anderson was 
the degree of A. M., in ciirsu, by Knox College before he left Illinois, and the 
honorary degree of Ph. D. by the Pacific University in 1883, after his fame 
had been established in the northwest. 

MORITZ THOMSEN. 

The business development of Seattle has been almost phenomenal. 
Comparatively few years have passed since the establishment of a railroad 
here to bring the city into closer connection with the outside world, but the 
country abounded in splendid resources and there came to this district men of 
enterprise and ability who recognized the possibilities here and have labored 
for the general good as well as individual prosperity. There have sprung up 
industries and enterprises of all kinds, utilizing the resources of the country, 
and to-day Seattle takes its place among the leading manufacturing cities 
not only upon the Pacific coast but of the country. Mr. Thomsen rs a rep- 
resentative of the manufacturing interests here, being extensively engaged in 
the operation of the Centennial Flouring Mills. In addition to these at Se- 
attle he owns another large mill at Spokane, the combined product being 
forty-five, hundred barrels of flour per day. He has established a large trade 
with the Orient, having shipped over two million sacks of flour to the far east. 

Mr. Thomsen is a native of Germany, his birth having occurred in 



556 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

Tondern, twenty-five miles from Hamburg, on the _'Sth of Jnly, 1850. He 
comes of one of the old families of the fatherlantl, and his parents were Chris- 
tian and Maria (Nissen) Thomsen, who were farming people of Germany, 
respected by reason of their genuine worth. They held membership in the 
Lutheran church, and the father died in iSSo at the age of fifty-seven years, 
while his wife, surviving him for some time, departed this life in 1895. at the 
age of sixty-four years. They were the parents of eight children, of whom 
six are living, but Mr. Thomsen is the only one in the state of Washington. 

In the schools of his native country Moritz Thomsen acquired his early 
education, and in 1864, when fourteen years of age, he went to sea. From 
that time forward his knowledge was gained in the school of experience, but 
the life which he chose lirought to !iim nmch information. He sailed for 
fourteen years, \-isiting every country upon the face of the globe, and as the 
vessel stopped in different ports he learned much of interest concerning differ- 
ent countries, their j^eoples and the manners and customs followed there. An 
active and intelligent yoimg man, faithful to duty and applying himself 
closely to the work entrusted to him, he won promotion from time to time 
until at the age of twenty years he became mate of the vessel. His sea ex- 
periences, however, ended in 1870, for he determined to become a resident of 
the land of the free. He sailed to California and for a1x)ut nineteen years 
remained in the Golden state. In 1889 he went to Spokane, Washington, 
where he engaged in the milling business and met with marked success there. 
This led him to extend the field of his operations and in 1897 he came to 
Seattle to construct the Centennial Flouring Mills. He secured six acres of 
land here, formed a company and incorporated the Central Milling Company, 
of which he is the principal stockholder and the president. Since he em- 
barked in his milling enterprises he has been four times to the Orient, spend- 
ing four years in all in eastern countries. There he won a wide acquaint- 
ance, and a splendid den'and for his iiour has since been made. He makes 
extensive shipments there and has also secured a good sale for his products in 
Seattle. His milling interests have been of the greatest benefit to the cities in 
which they are located, promoting the commercial prosperity and giving em- 
ployment to many operatives in the mills. Such is the business capacity 
and enterprise of Mr. Thomsen that he does not confine himself wholly to 
milling interests, but is a stockholder in the Pacific Coast Biscuit Company 
and also in the Spokane Brewing & Malting Company, both of which con- 
cerns are doing an extensive and profitable business. 

In 1875 occurred the marriage of Mr. Thomsen and Miss i\Iaria Xisen, 
a native of Germany. Tliev now have five children, as follows: Anna, 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 567 

Ing, Minnie, Theresa and Charles. ]Mr. Thomsen is not only a successful 
business man but is also a genial and social gentleman and this had led to 
his connection with the Masonic fraternity. He has become a member of 
the organization in all of the various branches, including blue lodge, coun- 
cil, chapter and commandery, and in the Scottish rite he has attained the 
thirty-second degree. Having decided to make a home in Seattle, he has 
purchased one of the finest residences in the city. It is notable in a city which 
is famous for its beautiful homes, standing in the midst of splendid grounds. 
It is located on the corner of Madison and Terry avenues within a few min- 
utes' ride on the Madison street-car line to the center of Seattle's business 
section. Mr. Thomsen's career is but another evidence of what the Teutonic 
race is accomplishing. It has ever been a most important element in carry- 
ing forward the work of civilization in the new districts. In introducing 
measures and methods resulting in progress and improvement, his unremit- 
ting diligence directed by sound intelligence, his methods at all times in har- 
mony with the strictest commercial ethics these have been the salient features 
in his splendid prosperity. 

GEORGE C. CARMAN. 

George C. Carman is a well known and reliable business man of Seat- 
tle, Washington, now enjoying a large trade as a dealer in fruit and vege- 
tables. A Canadian, he was born in St. Toluis, New Brunswick, on the 2d 
of December, 1832, and is a son of Richard Carman, who was born in Eng- 
land and emigrated to New Brunswick when a young man, but his last days 
were spent in New York, whither he remo\'ed with his family. He was an 
honest and industrious farmer and an active member of the Episcopal church, 
in which he led the singing for many years, being possessed of considerable 
musical talent. In early manhood he married Aliss Elizabeth Scott, who was 
of Scotch ancestry, and to them were born four children. Of these our 
subject was the youngest, being only two weeks old at the time of his moth- 
er's death. He has one brother still living, James, a resident of New Jersey. 

In his native province George C. Carman was reared and educated, as- 
sisting in the work of the home farm during the summer season and attend- 
ing school during the winter months. In i860 he went to California by 
way of the Isthmus of Panama, and located in Mariposa county, where he 
was employed in one of General John C. Fremont's quartz mills. Later 
Mr. Carman engaged in placer mining on his own account but with only 
verv moderate success. 



568 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

In 1862 was celebrated his marriage to JMiss Abby L. Abbot, a (laughter 
of Stephen Abbot, a native of Wilton, New Hampshire, who was one of the 
Cahfornia pioneers of 1850. Mr. Abbot was joined by a part of his family 
in 1854, and two years later Mrs. Carman arrived on the Pacific coast, ller 
mother bore the maiden name of Nancy W. Beede and was a daughter of 
Rev. Thomas Beede, a Unitarian minister of note in the east. The Beedes 
were an old New England family. To Mr. and Mrs. Carman were born 
three children; Edwin, the eldest, died in early childhood. The surviving 
children are Elizabeth, now the wife of J. W. Swope, and Stephen A. Car- 
man. 

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Carman resided in Hunter's valley, 
ilariposa county, removing to Antioch, Contra Costa county, in 1864, where 
Mr. Carman engaged in general merchandising. In 1889 he came- to Seattle, 
just after the great fire at this place, and after a time engaged in his present 
business at the Fulton Market, where by honorable methods and close atten- 
tion to the wants of his customers he has built up a very successful business, 
and numbers among his customers many of the best citizens of Seattle. In 
politics Mr. Carman is a stanch Republican, and is a member of the Inde- 
pendent Order of Odd Fellows. He is an upright, honorable business man, 
and well merits the high regard in which he is uniformly held. 

PAUL HOPKINS.- 

.\mong the important industries of the young but growing city of Bal- 
lard is the boiler works of Hopkins & Son, which were started on a veiy 
modest scale about fourteen years ago but have so increased in dimensions 
as to rank among the largest establishments of the kind in the state. The 
founder and principal proprietor is an expert iron worker and machinist 
who had an extensive training in positions of responsibility in the east and 
brought to his adopted home a ripened experience which has proved of value 
both to himself and others. He is a fine type of the kind of men whose 
energ}- and genius in the mechanic arts have brought about that wonderful 
development of the United States in manufactures that has astonished the 
civilized world. While Mr. Hopkins has not done it all, of course, he has 
done his part, and it is the aggregate of the results such as he has accom- 
plished which gives the nation its pre-eminence in all that relates to the metal 
trades. What he has done for himself and what he has done for Ballard 
will appear as the details of his career are unfolded. 

William Hopkins was formerly a man of means in England and was 




(^^^^1-^^*^ /V d^^^?4x> 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 569 

extensively fiiijayod in transportation on tlic ri\er Tlianies. He owned 
numerous teams and employed a large number of workmen, features of his 
work being the handling of coal used by the college of Oxford and furnish- 
ing- timber for the government's ship-building yards. But he was overtaken 
by ill fortune, and, having lost all his property as the result of adverse finan- 
cial circuntstances, he determined to cross the ocean and make a new start 
in the United States. This resolve was carried out in 1849. ^^d after his 
arri\al lie made his way to the west and engaged in boating on the Illionis 
ri\er. Tins occupation he followed without change until his death in 1877. 
He married Susannah Riddle, and when he left his native land was accom- 
panied by <i number of children, which by subsequent increases amounted 
to ten. consisting of seven sons and three daughters. It is with the youngest 
member of this family that this sketch is especially concerned as he is the 
gentleman now so prominent in industrial circles at Ballard. 

Paul Hopkins was born in England in 1843, ^nd was consequently but 
six years old when the parental emigration was made to .\merica. Owing 
to the straightened circumstances of his father, but little time could be de- 
voted to books, and at a very early age the boy found it necessary to work 
for a living. His fir.st ju\enile venture was entered upon in the eleventh 
year of his age and consisted of a iob of firing for a j^laning mill at LaSalle. 
Illinois This novitiate lasted about three years and ga\-e place to a posi- 
tion on a tug boat on the Chicago river, which l^uil considered himself 
as quite fortunate to have secured. He spent several years in the grimy work 
of firing f(.:" the fussy tug, but by another fortmie chance succeeded in get- 
ting employment at the McCormick Reaper Works. The experience ob- 
tained there enabled Mr. Hopkins to step still a little higher, and next we 
find him with a good situation as boiler-maker in the shops of the Illinois 
Central Railroad Company. This place was retained seven years, during 
which i\Ir. Hopkins made steady advances in his knowledge of metal, work- 
ing, and when he left Chicago it was only for the jtiu-pose of continuing in 
the same line of employment at Jililwaukee. He remained, however, but 
a short time at the Wisconsin metropolis, and after working for awhile as 
boiler-maker in an establishment at Manitowoc he returned to Chicago. 
Subsequently he did repair work for the South Side Rolling Mill Company, 
and later look a position as machinist in the steel works at Jolict, which 
he retained about eight years. His next venture was on his own account 
as proprietor of some iron works at Manistee. Michigan, which he operated 
eight years, and this ended his career in the eastern states. Having heard 
much of the Puget Sound country and the possil)ilities of the great north- 



570 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

west Mr. Hopkins decided in iSSj lo cast his lot with ihis "blooining"' sec- 
tion of the Union. His first intention was to stop at Taconia, but later he 
decided to go on to Seattle, and after arriving there he secured work as a 
journeyman, but at the same time conducted a small grocery store as a side 
line. In the spring of 1888 he purchased three lots on the bay and erected 
thereon a small building, the lumljer for which Mr. Hopkins and his assist- 
ants carried on their backs. At that time there were but few buildings at 
Ballard, which then gave little promise of its subsequent development. But 
the modest Hopkins shop grew rapidly, both in dimaisions and patron- 
age, until eventually it became an extensive and valuable plant. It was 
soon found necessary to put up larger buildings, and those in which the 
firm's business is now carried on are quite imposing both in size and area 
occupied. The boiler shop is sixty by ninety-eight feet and the foundry and 
machine shop is sixty by one hundred and five feet, frontage on the rail- 
road. The establishment gives employment to thirty-six persons and does 
a large amount of work for Seattle and other towns in the vicinity. They 
build gas works, tanks for paper mills, boilers for boats, and other machin- 
ery of a costly character. Some notable jobs ha\e been turned off by this 
establishment, including a burner for the Stimsons. which was thirty feet 
in diameter, sixty-one feet high and required sixty-four tons of iron for 
its construction. They made the large boilers put in the Tilicum, the Rapid 
Transit and the steamer Dode. Ijesides marine boilers for many other boats. 
This firm did the work in their line for the Grand Opera House at Seattle 
and that of the Diamond Ice Company plant, which consumed seventy-five 
tons of iron. Many of the residences in Ballard, especially those near their 
works, were erected or finished by this firm, and Mr. Hopkins himself owns 
a fine house of fourteen rooms on Ballard avenue. 

In 1866 Mr. Hopkins was married at Milwaukee, to Isabelle Highland, 
a lady of English nativity and of excellent family. Her father. John High- 
land, served as an engineer during the Civil war, and was awarded a medal 
for spiking the enemy's guns in one of their ports under circumstances of 
exceptional danger. Six of the nine children born to Mr. and Mrs. Hop- 
kins are living. Edward J., a partner of the Ballard Iron Works Company, 
married Marcia Alma Sprague and has three children. Eliza Isabelle, who 
is bookkeeper at the works, is serving her second term as president of the 
Epworth League. Paul C. who resides at Fairhaven, married Sarah Ward 
and has one child. Frank Frederick, who is one of the boiler-makers in the 
boiler works, married Agnes Marie Faber. Hannah Maud is a teacher in 
the Ballard schools. John .\rthur is a student ;'.l the State l^niversity, 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 57 » 

where he is laUiiig a course in civil engineering and is preparing for a course 
in mechanical draughting. Mrs. Hopkins is a member of the Daughters 
of Rebekah and the Woman's Relief Corps, while her husband's fraternal 
connections are with the Odd Fellows and Maccabees. Mr. Hopkins is in- 
dependent in his political views, and the only office he has held was member- 
ship for a short time in the city council. 

GEORGE U. PIPER. 

History concerns itself mostly with the men who have had to do with 
the political and military interests of the country, but biography treats of 
those busy toilers in the affairs of life who form the true strength of the 
nation. It is the men who are successful and enterprising in the business 
world that bring prosperity and advancement to a community, and of this 
class Mr. Piper is a worthy representative. He was born in Warsaw, Indi- 
ana, on the 2d of May, 1866. and is of Scotch-Irish and Dutch ancestry. 
His paternal grandfather was born in Scotland, but when a young man he 
left his home across the sea and came to America. He was here married to 
the daughter of Thomas Buck, who nobly served his country in the Revolu- 
tionary war, and he, too, was of Irish descent, while religiously he was an 
Episcopalian. 

Mr. and Mrs. Piper made their home for a time in Washington county, 
Pennsylvania, where their son, William G., was born on the 8th of August, 
1830. He married Miss Hattie Droud, a native daughter of Washington 
county, and she was of old Holland Dutch ancestry, who were early settlers 
of Pennsylvania and participants in the early history of the locality. William 
G. Piper became a prominent member of the legal profession. In 1876 he 
removed with his family to Albany, Oregon, and thence to Salem, that state, 
where for .several years he held the office of prosecuting attorney. Later 
he took up his abode in Moscow, Idaho, where he was made judge of the dis- 
trict court in 1S88, and 1896 was again elected to that important office. .-\f- 
ter his retirement from that position he came to Seattle, and in this city he 
continued his law practice until his life's labors were ended in death, on the 
J I St of September, 1899, after a long and useful career. Upon the organiza- 
tion of the Republican party he became an ardent supporter of its principles, 
and when the great Civil war burst upon the country he was one of the first 
to offer his services to the L^nion cause and was made a colonel of an Indi- 
ana regiment which he assisted in organizing. By his fiery eloquence he 
induced manv to volunteer in the defense of the starrv banner, and in manv 



5/2 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

ways he rendered \alual)le service In ilie cause lie so imhly espoused. After 
a service of one year he met with an accident which coiilined liim to nts hed 
for three years, and during all tliis time tlie cause of liis country weighted 
lieavily upon him. ,\fter regaining his liealth lie resumed the ]iracticc of his 
profession, and during his long term as district judge he served witii marked 
ability and fidelity, being at all times true to duty and liie right. His wife 
was called to her final rest in iSo;^. at the age of sixty-one years. I'o llii- 
worthy couple were bom six children, four sons and two daughters: Charles 
A. and Fred W'.. of Seattle: Edgar ]'>.. the managing editor of the Oregon- 
ian and a resident of Portland: and .Mrs. E. W. Langflon and Mrs. E. 1). 
Cusick. both of Albany, Oregon. 

George U. Piper, who completes the list of children received the ad\an- 
tages afforded by the public schools of Oregon during his early youth, and later 
))ecame a student in the Willamette University. Throughout the early ye.irs 
of his life he was engaged in journalistic work, and after his arrival in Se- 
attle, in i8S8, he and his brothers liecame the owners of the Post Intelli- 
gencer, and under their original methods of e.xecution and their correct and 
spirited grasp of affairs the paper grew rapidly in circulation and importance 
imtil it ranked among the leading newspapers of the state. Since disposing 
(jf his interest therein to its present owners Mr. Piper has retired from the 
journalistic field and has since devoted his attention to loaning money and 
making investments. He is now interested in a number of business enter- 
])rises, and is classed among the enterprismg citizens of the northwest. Po- 
litically he is a life-long Republican, and is active in the ranks of his chosen 
party, ever wielding a ^vide and valuable influence in the affairs of his city ami 
state. 

JAMES B. ?iIETCALFE. 

The profession of the law when clothed in its true dignity. pr>rit\- and 
strength, must rank first among the callings of man, for law rules the uni- 
verse. The work of the legal profession is to formulate, to harmonize, to 
regulate, to adjust, to administer those rules and principles that underlie and 
jjermeate all government and society and control the varied relations of men. 
.\s thus viewed there attaches to the legal profession a nobleness that can- 
not but be reflected in the life of the true lawyer, who. rising to the responsi- 
))ilities of the profession, and hf>nest in the pursuit of his purpose, embraces 
the richness of learning, the firmness of integrity and the purity of morals, 
together with the graces and modesty and the general amenities of life. Of 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 573 

such a type James B. Metcalfe is a representative. He has for eighteen years 
been practicing at the bar at Seattle and is recognized as one of the most 
eminent attorneys of the state. 

Mr. Metcalfe is a native of Mississippi, his birth having occurred near 
Natchez in Adams county on the 15th of January, 1846. He is of English 
and Irish lineage. The Metcalfes arrived in Massachusetts in 1620 and were 
numbered among the Puritan settlers of New England, Michael being the 
progenitor of the family in America. Representatives of the name removed 
to Connecticut and others to Ohio, while the branch of the family to which 
iiur subject belongs was founded in Mississippi by his father. On the ma- 
ternal side the ancestry can be traced directly to Deacon Samuel Chapin, 
whose bronze statue adorns the park in Springfield, Massachusetts. Na- 
thaniel Chapin. the grandfather of our subject, was an ensign in the Revo- 
lutionary war. and members of the Metcalfe family were minute men at Con- 
cord and Lexington, so that on both sides Mr. Metcalfe of this review has 
inherited the right to become a Son of the American Revolution. He has 
availed himself of the opportunity this has given and is a valued member of 
the organization. His father, Orrin Metcalfe, was bom in Enfield, Con- 
necticut, in 181 3, removed thence to Ohio, and subsequently became a resident 
of Mississippi, where he was married to Miss Zulink Rosalie Lyons, a native 
of Adams county, Mississippi. The Lyons family had emigrated from Ire- 
land to this county at a very early day in its history and had for many years 
resided in the south, where they were people of very high repute and influence. 
Orrin Metcalfe was the owner of an extensive plantation, which he success- 
fully controlled and operated, at the same lime taking a \ery prominent 
part in public affairs, his influence there being on the side of progress and 
improvement. For fifteen years he served as sheriff of his county. The 
cause of education found in him a verj' warm friend ; for many years he was 
treasurer nf Jefferson College, and his wife was president of the board of 
trustees of the Presbyterian Orphan .Asylum. Both held membership in the 
Presbyterian church, he being an elder in the First Presbyterian church of 
Natchez for fortx- \ears. His life, at all times honorable and upright, was 
an example well worthy of emulation and his influence and efforts were so 
discerningly directed that they proved of the greatest value to the commu- 
nity with which he was associated. Lie was called to his final rest in 1886 at 
the age of seventy-three years and his wile passed away in \Hi»j. They were 
the parents of ten children, five of wliom are yet living. 

James Bard Metcalfe pursued his education under the direction of pri- 
vate tutors an<l in the schools of Xatchez. In 186;^ the neeri oi the southern 



574 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

states to replenish the army with additional troops caused him to offer his 
services to the Confederacy. He had deep sympathy for the people of the 
south, and also prompted with a spirit of adventure, he ran away from home, 
joining the army as a member of the Tenth Mississippi Cavalry. His first 
service was in defense of Mobile, Alabama, arid he had the honor of being 
a commissioned officer of his company. For some time he served under the 
gallant cavalry leader, General N. B. Forrest, participating in many of the 
memoral)le engagements of the Ci\il war. He remained in active service 
until the close of ho.stilities and endured all the hardships and privations 
which befell the southern army during the last two years of the great stnig- 
gle. He was paroled at Jackson, Mississippi, by General E. R. S. Canby. 
He had many narrow escapes, bullets several times piercing his clothing, 
yet he was never wounded. 

When the war was ended Mr. Metcalfe returned to Natchez. His fam- 
ily had suffered much through the loss of property and in an endeavor to re- 
trieve his fortune he accepted a clerkship in a mercantile house, while later 
he was connected with a banking establishment. He studied law at night 
under the direction of Judge Ralph North, spending all his leisure moments 
outside of banking hours in the acquirement of his legal knowledge. De- 
siring better opportunities for advancement, in 1870 he came to the Pacific 
coast, locating in San Francisco, where he accepted a position in the Pa- 
cific Bank, continuing at the same time to pursue his law studies for a year. 
On the expiration of that period he entered the law office of the firm of Bart- 
lett & Pratt, where for a year he studied most assiduously and was then ad- 
mitted to the bar by the supreme court of California. At that time the firm 
of Bartlett & Pratt was dissolved and the firm of Pratt & Metcalfe was 
formed. He soon entered upon a very active practice, meeting with highly 
satisfactory success. His ability as a lawyer was rapidly winning him a 
foremost place among the able members of the bar of San Francisco when 
in 1883 business called him to Seattle, and he became so deeply impressed 
with the bright future that lay liefore the city that he decided to link his in- 
terests with its destiny. 

In accordance with that determination, in May. 1884, Mr. Metcalfe 
took up his abode in Seattle and opened an office for the practice of his pro- 
fession, which he continued alone for some time, his clientage steadily grow- 
ing each year. After three or four years he entered into partnership with 
Junius Rochister under the firm name of Metcalfe & Rochister. The busi- 
ness relation between them was riiaintained for about two years, during 
which time they were connected with some of the most important trials in 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 575 

the tcrriioiy. it was during that period liiat Mr. Metcalfe most signally 
distinguished himself as a jury lawyer in the homicide case of the. Washing- 
ton territory versus Miller, which is found reported in volume 3 of the 
Washington Territory Reports. The case attracted much attention, and 
popular prejudice against the accused was so strong that it was difficult 
to obtain a fair and impartial trial. For two and one-half years this case 
was before the courts, and in the four trials which were heard every inch of 
the ground was fought with great skill by alile lawyers in behalf of the ter- 
ritory. Unremitting zeal and almost unrequited toil — for the defaidant was 
poor — were brought to bear on the case by Mr. Metcalfe and his able partner, 
and the final acquital of their client was regarded as one of the most brilliant 
victories in the history of criminal cases in the northwest. Mr. Metcalfe's 
appeal to the jury was a most masterful effort, and the entire management 
of the defense evinced the most thorough knowledge and application of the 
law. Since that time Mr. Metcalfe's practice has been largely in C(jrpora- 
tion and admiralty law, in which it may be said he stands without a peer. 
While his practice has been of a very important character and his clientage 
is extensive, he has also been connected with other interests. He was one 
of the originators and one of the most active promoters of the first cable line 
in Seattle, known as the Yesler Avenue line, running from a point near the 
bay to Lake Washington. His prominence in business circles of the city is 
shown by the fact that he was sent as a delegate from the Seattle chamber 
of commerce to the Pacific Isoard of commerce which met in San Francisco 
in September, i8go, and well did he represent his city's organization. 

In his political views Mr. Metcalfe is a stalwart Democrat, and while in 
San Francisco he attained much prominence as a politician and was sent as 
a delegate of his party to represent California in the Democratic national 
convention held in Cincinnati in 1880, at which time General Winfield Scott 
Hancock was nominated for the presidency. In other political movements 
Mr. Metcalfe was also very prominent and influential. He served as captain 
of a company composed of Union and Confederate veterans during the Kear- 
ney agitation in San Francisco, and in 18S7 was appointed by Governor 
Semple the first attorney general of Washington territory, in which office he 
served with honor and credit until the admission of the territon,- into the 
Union. During the campaign of 1886 Mr. Metcalfe made a thorough can- 
vass of the territory in behalf of the nominee of his party for delegate to 
congress. His addresses were magnificent oratorical efforts, spoken of in 
the highest praise by those who heard them. One journal in alluding to his 



5/6 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

siieeches said, "We have listened to many powerful orators but never heard 
a clearer or more powerful argument," and he would at one time have been 
the unanimous choice of his party for delegate to congress, but decided to 
decline the honor. an<l stood with unswerving- fealty in support of his caji- 
didate, the Hon. C S. Voorhees. whom he placed in nomination in a speech 
which created the greatest enthusiasm. In many public addresses outside 
the line of his profession Mr. Metcalfe has established a reputation as an 
orator of much pf)wer, force and grace, and while he possesses in a very 
marked degree the (jualities which would tit him for any position in public 
life, he desires to give his entire attention to his professional duties. 

In the great fire which occurred in Seattle in 1889, it was his misfortune 
to lose his law library, which was at that time one of the most valuable 
j)rivate collections of law books in the city. Soon after the fire he built a 
three-story business bl<ick and in this building, after the formation of his 
])artnership with C W. Turner and .\ndrew j. Burleigh, be established new 
offices, which are c(|uippe(l with probably the largest and most ct)mplete 
law library in the northwest. After some time Mr. Burleigh retired fr<im the 
firm, and it continued as Metcalfe & Turner until tiie present linn of Met- 
calfe & Jury was established. They now occupy spacious offices in the Pa- 
cific block and among their clients are nt)w numbered some of the largest 
corporations in the state of Washington. Mr. Metcalfe has also been in 
many ways a most \alued resident of the city of his choice and has ever been 
ready to promote the welfare of Seattle. During the anti-Chinese agi- 
tation he served r.s lieutenant of Company D' of the national guards and was 
on active duly throughout this crisis in the city's history. Public excitement 
ran high, and 1 m the evening of the day on which the riot occurred, in which 
one man was killed and .several wounded, he was detailed to post the guards, 
the city being then under martial law. The undertaking was one of much dan- 
ger, as the streets were filled with throngs of e.xcited men. but such was his 
patience, firmness and loyalty to duty that he accomplished his tasks with 
splendid success and continued to serve with his company from the time 
martial law was ])roclaimed until the arrival of Lhiited States troops, when 
Mr. Metcalfe and his men were relieved from further military duties. Mr. 
Metcalfe is known ;is a man of the highest type of bravery, having a cour- 
age w'hich will face any danger if necessary, yet never taking needless risks. 
His courage was strikingly shown on a cold niglu in h'ebruary. 1887. when 
he and Hon. 1). M. Drumheller. then .Ulending the legislature from Spokane, 
were about to l;ike the .steamer at the ( )1 vnii)ta wharf. The deck of the 





>a^A^^l^ 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 577 

steamer was co\ered with ice, which could not be seen in the darkness, and 
Mr. Dniniheiler slip])ed and fell into the water. Without a moment's hesi- 
tation General Metcalfe plunged in after his friend and saved his life at the 
risk of his own. 

In 1S77 Mr. .Metcalfe was happily married to Miss Louise Boarman, 
a native dau.nhter of California, born in Sacramento, her parents being 
Thomas M. and Alary Boarman, of that city. To Mr. Metcalfe and his wife 
have been !)orn two sons, Thomas Oren and James Vernon. Mr. Metcalfe 
is a gentleman of strong domestic tastes, devoted to Jiis family and their 
\\elfare, and gives to his sons every opportunity for obtaining a thorough 
education. He takes veiy little interest in fraternal matters, but was at one 
time colonel of the first regiment of the uniformed rank of the Knights of 
I'vthias. In pri\ate life he commands high regard, and the circle of his 
friends is almost coextensive with the circle of his acquaintances. As long as 
the history of juris])rudence in Washington shall be a matter of record, the 
name of Mr. Metcalfe will figure conspicuously therein by reason of the 
fact that his career at the bar has been one of distinguished prominence, and 
that his was the hnnur of serving as the first a.ttorney general of the territory 
<if \N''ashington. 

DANIEL R. JACKSON. 

Throughout a long period Captain Daniel B. Jackson was a prominent 
figure in the annals of the Puget Sound country- and aided materially in its 
development in many lines. By a life of uprightness, industry and honor- 
able dealing, a life devoted to the support of whatever was good and true, 
he won the admiration and genuine regard of a large circle of acquiantances, 
who sincerely mourned his loss when, on the 29th of November, 1895, he 
was called upon to lay aside the burdens, joys and sorrows which had fallen 
to his lot. as to all. in the journey of life. The birth of Captain Jackson 
occurred in Warren. New Hamphire. on the iSth of July. 1833, and he was 
a son of William C. and Sarah P. (Roberts) Jackson, both of English 
origin. The father was a minister in the Methodist Episco])al church, and 
his noble, manly life proved an inspiration to many of his friends and asso- 
ciates of that early day. The family subsequently took up their abode in 
Bangor, Maine, where they spent the remainder of their lives. 

In 1S47. when but fourteen years of age, Daniel ran awa\ from home 
and vent to sea as a cabin boy and officer's hcl]), remaining before the mast 
for two \ear^, nn the expiration of which period he returnetl to his home. 



578 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

In 1852 he embarked in lumbering and steamboating on the Penobscot river, 
but in 1858 he went to California by the Panama route. During his one 
year's residence in the Golden state he was engaged in seeking its hidden 
treasures, afier which he came to the Puget Sound country and entered the 
employ of Amos Phinney & Company, owners of large mills at Port Lud- 
low. In 1871 Captain Jackson accepted a position with the Puget Mill Com- 
pany, and during his long period of twenty years' connection with that cor- 
poration he had charge of their steamboats and outside business, discharg- 
ing faithfully the duties imposed upon him in that important position. In 
1884 he organized the Washington Steam Ship Company, which was later 
succeeded by the Puget Sound & Alaska Steam Ship Company, and of both 
companies he served as president. It was during his regime that the elegant 
steamer City of Kingston was purchased and its sister ship City of Seattle 
was built, while under his skillful management a small beginning with the 
steamer City of Ouincy, Washington, and one or two others developed into 
one of the largest and best equipped shipping industries on the Sound. Dis- 
posing of his interests in that company in 1892. two years later Captain Jack- 
son organized the Northwestern Steam Ship Company, which operated the 
elegant new steamship Rosalie on the Victoria route, also the steamers 
G«orge'E. Starr and the Eliza Anderson on the Port Townsend mail line. 
Of this important company he was the president and principal owner at the 
time of his death, and it was largely owing to his unerring judgment and his 
excellent business ability that the concern obtained its high standing among 
the leading steamship companies of the Pacific. 

On the 1 2th of September, 1852, Captain Jackson was united in mar- 
riage to Mary A. Rowell, whose father was a native of Maine and of English 
extraction, while her mother was born in the city of Glasgow, Scotland. 
Mrs. Jackson also claims the Pine Tree state as the place of her nativity, and 
in that commonwealth she gave her hand in marriage to Capain Jackson, 
whom she accompanied on his journey to the Pacific coast. To this union 
were born nine children, five of whom are still living, as follows : Henr)- 
v., the manager of the Jackson estate; Charles P., vice-president of the Philo 
Mining Company; Daniel L. ; May E., the wife of George T. Evans, of 
Seattle; and Lottie E., the wife of James E. Guptill, the first mate on the 
City of Topeka. In political matters Captain Jackson was a stalwart sup- 
porter of Republican principles, but was never an aspirant f or political 
honors, and in his fraternal relations was a thrity-third degree Mason and a 
member of the Ancient Order of LInited Workmen. In April, 1889, just 
before the memorable fire in this city, he came to Seattle, where he ])urchascd 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 579 

the present family residence, then in an unfinislied condition, and during his 
residence here he did much for the city in the way of improving city prop- 
per}% having erected many residences and business houses, while in addition 
he was also largely interested in property in San Francisco. He was one of 
the best known steamboat men on the Sound and was also a popular factor 
in social life, and when his career on earth was ended the entire community 
mourned his loss, for he was a man of incalculable worth to the city. 

ALEXANDER B. STEWART. 

Among the energetic and enterprising business men of Seattle is Alex- 
ander Bruce Stewart, president of the Stewart & Holmes drug business, the 
largest and most successful wholesale and retail drug establishment in the 
northwest. He was born in Glenallan, Canada, on the 20th of February, 
1854. His father, George Stewart, was born in Ireland, and was descended 
from the royal family of Stuarts in Scotland. In his native country he 
was married to Miss Jane Bruce, who was descended from the noted Bruces 
of Scotland. In 1840 Mr. Stewart emigrated with his wife and twt) chil- 
dren, William and Robert, to America, locating on a farm in Welhngton 
county, Canada, and in that locality he became a prominent and influential 
citizen. He was called to his final reward in 1887, at the age of eighty-three 
years, passing away in the faith of the Methodist church, of which he was 
long a valued member. He survived his wife many years, she having died 
at the age of sixty-six years. Four sons and a daughter were added to the 
family circle in Canada, and three of the sons are now residents of the Pa- 
cific coast, the brothers of our subject being A. M., manager of the Stewart- 
Holmes branch drug store at Tacoma, and George M., the popular post- 
master of Seattle and one of the city's mOst successful business men. 

A. B. .Stewart received an excellent mental training in Victoria College 
of Canada, and in that country he also learned the drug business. When tlie 
time came for him to enter the business world on his own account he em- 
barked in the drug trade in Silver City, Nevada, where he was engaged from 
1874 until 1879, and during that time he also established a branch store at 
Gold Hill, that state. In 1879 ^^ removed from Silver City to Bodie, Cali- 
fornia, but in 1882 sold his interests in the latter place and removed his Gold 
Hill store to Seattle, where for four years he was engaged in the drug trade 
alone. The business was then incorporated as the Stewart-Holmes Com- 
pany, and they have since established branch stores in Tacoma and Walla 
^^'alla. Their business interests now extend over Washington and Alaska 



580 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

and tliroug-li [)arts ot Idaho and (Jreg-on. I'lieir trade has steadily increased, 
and they are doing both a large wholesale and retail business. Theirs is one 
of the leading industries of the northwest, and it is to such enterprises that 
Seattle owes her prosperity and substantial progress. Mr. Stewart has ever 
taken a deep interest in all that pertains to the welfare of his chosen city, 
and was one of the founders of the Front and Madison street car lines. .\n 
active worker in the ranks of the Republican party, he has served fur U>w 
A-ears as a member of the Republican state central committee, and has taken 
an active interest in all the state conventions. In his social relations he is 
a member of the Masonic fraternity, and is now a Knight Templar. 

In 1884 Mr. Stewart was happily married to Miss May Elia Martin, a 
native of Rockford. Illinois, and a daughter of J. N. Martin. D. U.. professor 
of languages in the University of the Pacilic. of California. Their home has 
l)een brightened and blessed by the presence of one daughter. .\lma Ma\-. 
Hoth Mr. and Mrs. Stewart are valued members of the Congregational 
church. Their home is a favorite resort with a large circle of warm friends, 
who esteem them highly for their many excellencies of character and their 
genuine worth. 

FRED F. FISHER. 

This gemleman is a member of the progressive corps which may i)C 
described as the lumber army of the northwest, whose operatitms have been 
conducted on a gigantic scale and their products made familiar all over the 
world. There are few places where building is done that are not familiar 
w ith the shingles and other forius of lumber sent out from the Puget Sound 
country. Western Washington is covered with magnificent forests of pine, 
br, cedar and other coniferous trees, which afi'ord an immense amount of 
excellent material for sawed lumber and spars. Enterprising men from the 
east who reached this section shortly alter the Civil war inuiiediately saw 
the possibilities of its rich resources in timber, and no time was lost in erect- 
ing mills to cut the gigantic trees into shape for commercial u.se. it was to 
this industry chiefly that Washington owed the rapid development which 
enabled it in a few years to change from the chrysalis state of a feeble terri- 
tory into a full-fledged commonwealth of the Union. Mr. Fisher was still 
quite a youth when his lot was cast among these energetic lumber men of 
the northwest, but he proved a worthy addition to such a bo:iy and has pros- 
pered in business since arriving u])on the scene. 

The i'islu'r f.imilv originated in I'rance. but became residents of .\meri- 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 581 

ca by emigration and had represematixes in Maine at an early period in tiie 
history of that state. One of the descendants removed with his wife to Iowa 
in the early decades of the last century, and became the parents of Edward 
I<"isher. The latter served nearly four )'ears as a soldier of the Union in one oi 
the Iowa regiments during the Civil war and made quite an honorable military 
record. After the cessation of hostilities he spent some years in Illinois as a 
dealer in grain ;ind lumber, but in 1885 removed to Nebraska. Here he 
renewed his connection with the lumber interests and operated through the 
states of Colorado and Nebraska. While in Illinois he married Mary Cotton, 
by whom he had ten children, eight sons and two daughters, and all r)f these 
are living but one. 

I'Ved F. Fisher, one of the sons abcjve mentioned, was born at Galva, 
Iowa. September 15. 1867. but was reared and educated chiefly in Livingston. 
He accompanied his father to Nebraska, and as soon as (^f sufficient age 
joined him in the lumber business. In 1888 be \\ent to California, where he 
spent two vears in the same line and then returned to Nebraska. While in 
this state pre\iously he had been employetl by the Stimsons. and was offered 
a situation bv the same people in connection with their lumber business at 
Seattle. It was in 1891 that he transferred his base of operations to the 
voung state of Washington, with whose development he was destined to re- 
main identified during all the years to come. .After remaining a year at 
Seattle Mr. Fisher came to Ballard, then a place of between four and five 
hundred population, bought a lot and built a home. He remained with the 
Stimsons until igoi. then spent six months at Everett and after returning 
to Ballard took an interest in the newly formed lumber company which went 
by the name of that town. William H. Stimson of Los Angeles was elected 
president an.d bVcd F. Fisher secretary of the Ballard Lumber Company at 
the time of organization, and they still retain those positions. The company 
purchased the mill built by Hardfield & Roberts, which has a capacity <>f 
thirty thousand feet a day. Aside from the men engaged in the lumber 
camps the company employ fifty men and own between fifty and sixty million 
feet of lumber in the Skagit country, which is the principal location of their 
outside operations. Their manufacture covers pretty much all the varieties 
of lumber recjuired in the building trades and a lively shipping business is 
done to coast parts and to the centers of this industry in the east. 

On September 20, 1890, Mr. Fisher was married in Nebraska to Alena. 
daughter of Jud L. Bond, a farmer of that state. By this union there have 
lieen three childlren, two living: Gladys and Glenn, and one deceased, named 
I'onnie. Mr. Fisher has l>een quite active in politics on the Republican side. 



582 ■ REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

and served lliree years as scliool director, was urged to accept the nomination 
for mayor, but this honor he was constrained to decHne on account of tlie 
exacting nature of his business. In t!ie fall of 1900 Mr. Fisher erected tlie 
residence in which he now resides, on Leary avenue, this being- the third 
dweUing house put up by him since coming to Ballard. 

JAMES D. TRENHOLM. 

One of the best known and most highly respected business men of Seat- 
tle is James D. Trenholm, who is the manager and secretary of the North- 
western Commercial Company. He is a native of Canada, born in Mon- 
treal on the 22d of June, 1865, and is of English and Scotch ancestry. His 
father, John Trenholm, was torn in England, but in 1830 left his home 
across the sea and came to America, where he became interested in the manu- 
facture of woolen goods. He married Miss Ann Dickson, a native of Glas- 
gow, Scotland, and she still survives her husband. In their family were 
eight children, all of whom are still living. 

James D. Trenholm, the only representative of the above family in tiic 
state of Washington, received his education in St. Francis College at Que- 
bec. In 1882, when seventeen years of age, he went to North Dakota, where 
he served as deputy register of deeds for three years, durig which time he 
also read law and was admitted to practice in 1890. While engaged in the 
practice of his profession at that place he also did a general banking and farm 
loan business, and became a prominent and influential citizen of the locality. 
In 1898 he made the journey to the Klondyke, and during the year which he 
spent there established the electric light plant and power supply of Dawson, 
and on the expiration of that period, in company with Mr. Rosene, he came 
to Seattle and organized the Northwestern Commercial Company. S|ince 
which time they have been engaged in the shipping interests, their stock 
having increased during the past year from twenty thousand to four hundred 
thousand dollars. They ship principally to Alaska and Siberia, and in the 
last named place they own large possessions and are establishing trading 
posts. They also own many stores in Alaska, and in that countrj^ they are 
employing as many as two hundred men. In addition to these important 
interests Mr. Trenholm has a large interest in the firm of Jacobs & Trenholm, 
and they are doing a general agency business aiid own large warehouses in 
this city. Thus it will be .seen that our subject has attained to an exalted 
position in the business circles of the nijrlhwest. but all that he now possesses 
is the result of his own unaided efforts and executive abilitv. 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 583 

Tlie marriage of Mr. Treiiholin and Miss Minnie Grandy. a native of 
Canada, was celebrated in 18S9, and the union has been blessed witli four 
children, — Lotty, May, Dickson and Ruth. The family reside in a beautiful 
home at Green Lake, where they dispense a gracious hospitality to their 
many friends. In political matters Mr. Trenholm affiliates with the Demo- 
cratic party, and is at all times a public spirited and progressive citizen. In 
Masonic circles he has also gained a high standing", being a member of tlie 
blue lodge and chapter, the Mystic Shrine and the Knights Templars. He 
has also passed the chairs in all branches of the Independent Order of Odd 
Fellows, and is a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He 
is widely known throughout the county of King, and his reputation for reli- 
ability in business circles is unassailable, while in all life's relations he com- 
mands the respect of those with whom he has been brought in contact. He 
is a most progressive man, of great energy and force of character and is a 
recognized leader in many lines of business, which result not only to his own 
profit but also add to the general prosperity. 

■ WILLIAM DeCURTIN. 

One of the enterprising business men of Interbay. and a gentleman of 
superior mental endowments and intellectual culture, came to America a 
young man and has found in the business possibilities of the new world the 
opportunity which, being improved, has made him a prosperous resident of 
his adopted land. He was born in Switzerland, a son of Felix and Hortense 
(Duval) DeCurtin. The father was a native of France and was an officer 
and instructor in the French army. He loyally served his country in the 
Franco-Prussian war on the staff of one of the famous marshals with the 
rank of captain. After the close of the w^ar he remained in the military 
service of his country as instructor in military tactics in one of the military 
schools, in which capacity he remained until his death in 1876. The subject 
of this review is the younger of the two children of the family. His brother 
Jacob reinained in his native country and is now a wealthy citizen there. 

William DeCurtin was reared in his native land until he hafl attained 
the age of nineteen years, and acquired a good education, completing a scien- 
tific course, after which he spent one year as a student in a polytechnic school. 
"When he was nineteen years of age the scene of his life changed materially. 
Fle left his native country for America, sailing for New York to become the 
-American correspondent for Zvvatchebach & Company, in whose .service he 
remained for sixteen months, when, believing that he might have better busi- 



5«4 RKPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

ncss i>i)|x>rtuiiities in utlier connections, he entered the employ of SchHtz & 
Ct)nipany. the well known brewers of Milwaukee, being attached to their 
C'hiciigo ag-ency for a year. On the expiration of that period he went to 
St. Paul, where he remained for a year and a half in the same capacity, and 
laier was tr.uisferrcd to (_"ouncil P.luli's. Iowa, where he represeiucd the coin- 
pan \ for four years. 

In iX()9 Mr. DeCurlin came to Seattle and has since been identified with 
the brewing interests of the northwest, lie was elected president of a brew- 
ing company, witii which he was associated until he became one of the or- 
ganizers of the Claussen Brewing .\ssociation. He was chosen the vice- 
president and secretary of the ne\\- corporation and has since filled those posi- 
tions, his l)usiness capacity and enteq)rise contributing largely to the success- 
ful conduct of the new industry. 

Mr. DeCurtin was married in Council Bluffs. Iowa, in 1898. to lui- 
genia ileuber. a native of Buffalo. New York. His poHtical support is 
given the Republican i)arty. .Vlthough a comparatively recent acquisition to 
the .citizenship of Seattle Mr. DeCuitin's progressive and enterprising spirit 
is manifest in the interest which he has taken in the advancement of measures 
pertaining to the general welfare and progress. He is a member of the In- 
terbay lm])rovement Clul) and in a private capacity has co-operated in move- 
ments for the benefit of the community. He is a gentleman of superior abilit\- 
and fine educational attainments: a g"ood linguist, who has made a specialt\' 
of the study of languages and is proficient in five dift'erent tongues, including 
the old Roman dialect spoken in Canton Grisons in Switzerland. He is a pleas- 
ant, genial man to meet and has already beccnne popular with a rapidly increas- 
ing circle of frien<ls. 

\\ILLI.\.\I M. CCRTISS. 

.\ll persons residing at or near the town of Ballanl must necessarily 
know the gentleman above named, as he is the ])ioneer merchant of the place. 
When he first came here Ballard was an unknown quantity, still waiting to 
be evolved from nothing, like many another of the now striving cities of the 
west. This was not so long ago. it is true, but as he was one of the first on 
the ground and hxated. as the ])harse goes, he is enlitletl to the name of 
early settler and as such will figure in the history of the place. .\ few 
words, therefe)re. .ibout Ballard's oldest merchant will not be out of place in 
a volume devoted to the representative men of King cmmty. His ancestors 
were residents of New York state for some generations back, and his father 
did business as a mechanic at Oswego. The latter was a contractor, and in 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. S^S 

connection with his father erected a number of large buildings at various 
places. Some time during the fifties he secured an important contract which 
necessitated a trip to Ottawa, Illinois, and a somewhat prolonged stay in 
that section of the state. Eventually he returned to New York, and was 
accidentally drowned in 1870 while working for the government as superin- 
tendent of the break-water at Oswego; his boat was swamped while making 
a trip to ihe light house in a heavy storm, and a heavy overcoat which he 
wore at the time prevented him from swimming satisfactorily. He married 
Maria I. Todd, who bore him three children and is now making her home 
at Ballard. 

William M. Cnrtiss, the genial merchant with wtiose affairs this sketch 
is concerned, was bom at Ottawa, Illinois, April 24, 1858, during the temp- 
orary residaice of his parents above mentioned. While still an infant he 
was taken to New York, and grew to maturity in that state, where he re- 
ceived a meager amount of schooling during his boyhood. He did work in 
different lines of a miscellaneous character until his twentieth year had been 
completed, when he learned the tinner's trade, whicli lias since furnished 
his chief occupation. In 1882 he left his old home for the distant west and 
spent four years at Fargo and Jamestown. South Dakota. Having heard 
much of the young city growing up on Puget Sound he decided to cast his 
lot with the state of Washington, and in 1886 made his first appearance at 
Seattle. Business was dull at that time, and work in the skilled trades be- 
ing scarce Mr. Cnrtiss devoted his attention for some time to building small 
boats. In a short time, however, he embarked in mercantile business at 
North .Seattle, but this venture was of brief continuance, and after the store 
was disposed of Mr. Cnrtiss purchased a lot, which now constitutes a part 
of the site of Ballard. In September, 1889. he built a shack and started a 
tinshop, which proved to be the nucleus for the future mercantile interests 
of Ballard and has since grown in importance with the development of the 
town and surrounding country. During the year following his humble be- 
ginning Mr. Curtiss laid in a stock of goods in his line, and in the fall erected 
that part of his present building which faces on Second avenue. There was 
prosperity and steady growth from the beginning, and the end of twelve 
years found Mr. Curtiss in possession of a commodious building, with floor 
space one hundred feet square and containing the largest stock of its kind in 
the city. He deals in tinware, stoves, pumps, sashes, doors and other ar- 
ticles in that line, and is not only the oldest but the-most successful and pop- 
ular of the merchants who have found lodgment in the incipient city of Bal- 
lard. A shop well fitted with every facility for making repairs and looked 



586 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

after by competent workmen is an important adjunct of tlie regular mercan- 
tile departiiient. Aside from his regular business Mr. Ciu'tiss has paid some 
attention to mining, and has made some investments in that line which 
promise well for the future. 

In 1891 Mr. Curtiss was married to Amanda \ an fatten, wiu) is quite 
popular in social circles, being a member of the ladies' clubs at Seattle and 
Ballard and a Daughter of Rebekah. Mr. Curtiss also takes interest in fra- 
ternal affairs and holds membership in various orders, including the Odd 
■ Fellows, Rebekahs, Workmen and \\\)odmen of America. He is indepen- 
dent in politics, with Republican leanings, is a member of the board of edu- 
cation, the Chamber of Commerce and served two years in the city council. 

CH.XRLES F. W'HITTLESKN'. 

The law has ever attracted ti) its ranks a certain class oi" men gifted with 
keen perception and logical minds, men who, by nature or training, or both, 
are peculiarly fitted to deal with the problems which arise among their fel- 
lows, in reviewing the prominent members of the King county bar we tinfl 
the name of Ciiarles V . Whittlesey, who is a member of tlie firm of Booth. 
Whittlesey & Manford. a prominent abstract compaii)-. 

Mr. Whittlesey was born in Fort Warren, New Me.\ico. on the lyth 
of August, 1855, and on both the paternal and maternal sides is descended 
from prominent old families, joim Whittlesey, tlie ])rogenitor of the pa- 
ternal branch in America, came to tiiis country form Cambridge, England, 
in 1635, locating in Sayljrook, Connecticut, and there his .son Joseph was 
born on the 15th of January, 1671. His son, also named Joseph, was ix)rn 
in that city on the 20th of May. 1722, and during the Revolutionary war 
.served as an adjutant quartermaster of a Connecticut regiment. He was 
made a prisoner by the British during that struggle. His son. John Baldwin 
Whittle.sey, was bom in Saybrook. November 2(k 1 782. and became the 
grandfather of our subject. He became a Presbyterian minister in the state 
of New York, and his death occurred tliere on the loth of September. 1833. 
at the age of fifty-one years. He married Nancy Hotchkiss. a daughter of 
Lemuel and Penelope Hotchkiss 

Joseph Hotchkiss Whittlesey, the father of our subject, was iiorn in 
Avon, New York, August 2J. 1822, aufl was a graduate of West Point. 
During the Mexian war he was made :i second lieutenant, and for gallant 
service at the battle of Buena Vista, in which he served uniler (ieneral Tay- 
lor, he was made a first lieutenant. During the t"i\il \\ar he also served liis 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 5«7 

country as a Ijrave and luyal soldier, having command of a regiment in the 
Army of the I'utdniac. He was witli his regiment at the siege of Yorktovvn, 
and was taken prisoner at Winchester, Virginia, btit on account of disaliiHty 
was soon afterward paroled and exchanged. I'Or a time thereafter he was 
engaged in recruiting' volunteers for the Union army throughout Pennsyl- 
vania, Xew York and New Hampshire. He was afterward professor of 
military science in Cornell University and was ne.xt made treasurer of the 
soldiers' home at Washington, D. C, serving in the latter position for five 
years. The year 1884 witnessed his arri\al in Seattle, but after a residence 
here of only two years he was called to his final rest, passing away on the ist 
of August, 18S6, at the age of si.Kty-four years. He married Miss Catherine 
Knox Fauntleroy, a descendant of an old French family of Virginia. Moore 
Fauntleroy. the founder of the family in America, came to this country from 
Scotland, locating in Frederick county, V^irginia. He was of French de- 
scent. The maternal great-grandfather of our subject, Charles Fauntle- 
roy, was a member of the supreme bench of the Old Dominion, was also a 
member of the Virginia legislature, and was a general in the Revolutionary 
war, having charge of a Virginia brigade. So great was his sympathy for 
the cause of the colonies that he disinherited a son who espoused the British 
cause. His daughter married Charles Magill, who was a colonel on General 
Washington's staff, while another daughter married Charles M. Thurston, 
who was also a member of W^asbington's staff in that memorable struggle. 
To Mr. and Mrs. Whittlesey were born two sons. William H. and Charles 
Fauntleroy. 

Charles F. Whittlesey was educated by private tutors during his early 
years, and later became a student in the Princeton College, in which institu- 
tit>n he was graduated in 1874. His professional education was received in 
Columbian College at Washington, District of Columbia, in which he was 
graduated in 1876, and from that time until 1881 he followed his chosen pro- 
fession in the capital city. In the latter year he took up his abode in Colo- 
rado, where he was a member of the legal profession for three years. Since 
1883 he has been a resident of the .state of Washington, spending the first 
year in Whatcom, and since 1884 he has made his home in Seattle. After 
his arrival in this city he turned his attention principally to land law and 
assisted in forming the abstracts for King county, which his company now 
owns. His name is a familiar one in political and professional circles 
throughout this section of the state, and by reason of his marked intellectual 
activity and su])erior ability he is well fitted to aid in molding the policy of 
the state, to control general interests and from public opinion. Mr. Whitt- 



588 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

Icsey has beeii a life-iong Ueinucrat. and for iwu Icnns, oi two years each, 
he served his county as its treasurer. He was appointed by Governor George 
Semple as regent of the University of Washington, and was serving- in tliat 
capacity wiien the territory was admitted into the Union. 

On the 23d of July, 1886, in Seattle, Mr. Whittlesey was happily mar- 
ried to Miss Susana DeWolf, a native of Charlotte, North Carolina, and a 
daughter of Captain Frederick S. DeWolf. who .served as a captain of Con- 
federate forces during the Civil war. and is now a resident of Seattle. 'i"he 
union of our subject and wife has been blessed with two daughters, Charlotte 
DeWolf and Laura DeWolf. The family reside in a pleasant home in Seat- 
tle, where they dispense a gracious hospitality to their many friends. Mrs. 
Whittlesey is a memlier of the Second Presbyterian church of this city. 

GEORGE N. GILSON. 

George X. Gilson, chairman of the board of county commissioners of 
King county and a representative business man of the city of Seattle, en- 
gaged in the sale of engineers' supplies, is a native of Port Jefferson, Long 
Island, being lx)rn on the ist of April, 1S62. He is of English descent, 
and his ancestors came to this country before the Revolutionarx- war. His 
father, C-eorge F. Gilson, was born in Buffalo, New York, and was there 
married to Miss Sarah Pedwick, of Long Island, and five children were born 
to them in the Empire state. In 1875 he came to Seattle, \Vashington, being 
accompanied on the journey by his wife and three children. George X.: .An- 
nie now the wife of William (iood; and Fheresa, the wife of Henry C. Wood. 
The remaining two children joined them on the Pacific coast in 1879. Re- 
ligiously the father was an Episcopalian and the mother a Methodist, and both 
have pas.sed away, the latter dying on the 25th of February, 1890, and the 
former on the 28th of April, 1895. They were people of the highest in- 
tegrit}- and worth, and enjoyed the respect and esteem of all who had the 
pleasure of their acquaintance. 

George N. Gilson was but seventeen years of age when he accompanied 
his parents on their removel to Washington, and after his arrival in this 
state he resumed his studies in the Washington State University. After 
putting aside his text books he went to sea, serving first in the engineer's de- 
partment, but afterward became a master, and for seventeen years was on 
the sea, during which period he sailed around the world. For a number of 
years after returning to this state he was engaged in the iron business, and 
also inve.sted largely in city property. In January. 1900. he incorporated the 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 589 

Engineers' Supply Company, of which he is now the president and manager. 
He is progressive in his methods, industrious and persevering, and has man- 
aged liis interests so as to \vin for himself a name among the substantial busi- 
ness men of the northwest. During his residence in Seattle he has erected 
many homes, and has been thoroughly interested in the development of this 
region, doing all in his power for its progress and advancement. 

Mr. Gilson was happily married in 1890, when Miss Florence E. Hick- 
man became his wife. She is a native daughter of the Golden state. To 
this union have been bom two daughters, Florence Edna and Ruth Serena. 
Both Mr. and Mrs. Gilson are members of the Methodist church, in which he 
has served as a trustee for many years. Socially he is a member of the 
Benevolent and Protective Orc^r of Elks, of the Woodmen of the World 
and of the Ancient Order of Uiiited Workmen. A life-long Republican, he 
has been the choice of his party for many positions of honor and trust. Bor 
four years he served as a member of the city council of Seattle, and during 
that time was acti\e in promoting the work of grading Front street. In 
1 898 he was elected a member of the board of county commissioners of King- 
county, and was later made its president. He is a genial, kind-hearted and 
affable gentleman, and takes just pride in handing dgwn to his posterity the 
fact that he was captain of the first passenger steamer that sailed from this 
port. This vessel was named the Hornet, and made the voyage to Port 
Orchard and other ports on the Sound. 

ELL.IS MORRISON. 

To the energetic natures and strong mentality of such men as the Hon. 
Ellis Morrison are due the success and ever increasing prosperity of the Re- 
publican party in Washington, and in the hands of this class of citizens there 
is ever assurance that the best interests and welfare of the party will be con- 
served, resulting in a successful culmination of the highest ambitions and 
expectations entertained by its adherents. Given to the prosecution of active 
measures in political affairs and possessing the earnest purpose of placing 
their party beyond the pale of possible dimunition of power, the Republican 
leaders in this state are ever advancing. Certainly one of the most distin- 
guished leaders of the party in the state is .Ellis Morrison, who throughout 
his life has been a loyal citizen, imbued with patriotism and fearless in de- 
fense of his honest convictions. He has served as speaker of the house of 
representatives in Wasiiington, but is not alone prominent in political circles, 
being also regarded as one of the leading business men of Seattle, where, as a 
dealer in stocks, bonds and mortgages he is widelv known. 



590 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

Ellis Morrison was Ijorn in iUitlcr county, I'ennsyKania, on the 20tli of 
May, 1850, and is of Scotcli lineas^e. the family having been established in 
Massachusetts four generations ago. He jjursued his advanced studies, 
after completing the work of the public schools, in the Pennsylvania Military 
College, in which he was graduated with the class of 1871 as a civil engineer. 
Later his alma mater conferred upon him the degree of master of civil en- 
gineering, and fur ten years he was the city engineer of Newcastle. Pennsyl- 
vania, where he built the city water works. He also had ch.'irgc uf the con- 
struction and inauguration of water works in \ari(jus other cities, including 
works at Greencastle and Wabash. Indiana. .Sharon and Corry, Pennsyl- 
vania, Warren and Deliance, Ohio. Mr. Morrison studied law in Newcastle, 
Pennsylvania, during the years 1873-74-75, and was admitted to the Law- 
rence county bar on May 3. 1875: he is now a member of the King county 
bar in \\'ashington, but has never engaged in the practice of his profession. 

On the i8th of l->bruary, iqon. Mr. Morrison arrived in Seattle and 
has since been engaged in the brokerage business and in dealing in bonds 
ar^d mortgages. He has met with very gratifying success. Seattle's im- 
portance as a business center is constantly increasing and is drawing to the 
city men of marked business and executive force from all sections of the 
country, .\mong this mimber Mr. Morrison is prominent. He has also 
engaged in dealing in real estate, and has platted several additions to the city 
in West Seattle, covering hundreds of acres. Thus he has contributed t<i 
the improvement and upbuilding of the city, .and at the saine time has pro- 
moted his individual prosperity. 

On the 1st of July, 187^. Mr. Morrison w;is united in marriage to Miss 
Sarah Ann Lle\vell}n. a native of Johnstown. Pennsylvania, and they now 
have three children. l'liillii)s. Llewellyn and Ellis. Mr. Morrison has erected 
a nice home at 1315 Tcrrv avenue, where the family are pleasantly located. 
Mrs. Morrison is a valued member of the Christian church, while our subject 
is a member of the grand lodge of Ancient York Ma.sons of the state of 
Pennsylvania. Me is also a Knight Tem])lar. is past master and honorary 
member of Maluiuing Lodge No. 243, Newcastle, and a member of the 
grand lodge of Pennsylvania, and of Seattle Commandery No. 2. Knights 
Templar. Strongly endorsing Re])ublican principles, he has long been a 
recognized leader of his ])<arty. both in Pennsylvania and in Washington. 
From 1880 until 1885 he was a member of the legislature <>( the state of 
Pennsylvania, and in T892 was elected to re|)resent his district in the state 
legislature of Washington, serving as speaker of the house in 1895. With 
comprehensive knowledge of parliamentary law, he presided over its deliber- 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 59 1 

ations in a dignified manner, his course being- marked by the utmost fairness 
and impartiahty. He is now a member of the council of the city of Seattle 
and chairman of the Republican state central committee. Mr. Morrison is 
easily approachable, showing courtesy to all with whom he comes in contact. 
and is a companionable, genial gentleman, and has a host of warm friends. 
In his home he is an indulgent father and a kind and devoted husbanfi. and 
his genuine worth and many virtues are widely recognized. He never acts 
except from honest motives, and in all his varied relations in business affairs 
and in social life has maintained a character and standing that have im- 
pressed all with his sincere and manlv jjurpose to do 1)\ others as he wouhl 
have others do by him. 

CHRISTIAX A. KINDRED. 

Since 1893 the roll of the leading business men of Seattle has included 
the name of Christian A. Kindred, and none have been more highly respected. 
Certainly none are more deeply interested in all things pertaining to the ad- 
vancement and prosperity of the city, and his influence has always been found 
upon the side of progress and improvement. He is a native son of Indiana. 
hi< birth occurring in Jackson county, on the 3d of November. 1870. and he 
is of German descent. His father, Daniel Kindred, nobly .sen-ed his coun- 
trv during the great Civil war. and as a companion on the journe\- of life 
chose Miss Marv Ramie. After their marriage they remo\ed from Indiana 
to Smith county. Kansas, where they became well known farming people, 
and there they reared a family of thirteen children, six sons and seven daugh- 
ters, all of whom are still living. The parents are devout members of the 
Free Methodist church, and throughout their entire lives have followed its 
helpful teachings, doing all in their power to spread the cause <>i Christi- 
anity among their fellow men. 

Chri.stian A. Kindred spent the days of his boyhocjd and youth on his 
father's farm in Smith county, Kansas, and to its public school system he is 
indebted for the educational privileges which he was permitted to enjoy in 
his early life. In 1893 he cast in his lot with the citizens of Seattle, where he 
has since been engaged in the wood and coal business at his present location. 
He began his operations here in a small way, but by undaunted perseverance 
and honorable methods has gradually risen to a prominent place in the busi- 
ness world, being now the owner of the extensive grounds on which his yards 
are located. Employment is furnished to sixteen men at the wood camp, 
while in Seattle six teams are kept constantly at work dcli\ering wood and 



592 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

coal to his many customers. He is a man of integrity and marked fidelity 
to the duties of life, and Seattle numbers him among her representative 
citizens. In his social relations Mr. Kindred is a memljer of the Ancient 
Order of United \\'orkmen, of the Woodmen of the World and of the Inde- 
pendent Order of Odd Fellows, while his political preference is with the 
Socialists. He is well known and enjoys a distinctive popularity in the city 
which for a number of years has been his home and field of labor, and has 
unbounded faith in Seattle and in its growth and its advancement to a posi- 
tion of still greater relative importance as one of the industrial and commer- 
cial centers of the west. 

WILLIAM H. VERNON. 

Great rewards are always in store for the man who has the foresight 
to recognize the future \alue of undeveloped regions, and, furtharmore, 
has the necessary courage to be the pioneer in building up the resources of 
the place. The city of Ballard in King county, Washington, is an example 
of a locality which has been lying for years with its wealth untouched and 
only awaiting the coming of the promoter to make of it one of the leading 
commercial centers of the west. And Mr. Vernon is one of those who came 
when it was an insignificant place in the commercial world and exploited its 
resources until it is now a thriving city. When he came here there were 
only about two hundred inhabitants in the town, but his judgment told 
him there were excellent prospects for the future here, and through hard 
times and all he has never lost faith in the ultimate greatness of Ballard. 

William H. Vernon is the son of W. H. and Mary (Downing) Ver- 
non, who both passed their lives in England ; the former was interested in 
a brewery for awhile and later in farming. William was torn in that fam- 
ous city of Sheffield. England, on July 3, 1839. He had no opportunities 
in youth to gain an education .and throughout his life has had to pick up the 
information and culture by dint of hard labor which come to the more 
favored as a mere circumstance of ) outh ; but he has been a diligent student 
to this very day and is not so backward as some who have made less use ol 
their opportunities. He was a boy when he first engaged in the mercantile 
business. But the memorable Black Friday in financial circles in 1866 threw 
him, as it did thousands of others, down from the heights of success and 
caused him a loss of twenty-five thousand dollars. In the fall of 1879 lie 
decided to come to America. For a short time he was located in Minnesota, 
where he did ver\- well, and then went to Dakota and engaged in the stock 




^ymM. 



^MyyiAnx^^,^ 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 593 

business, where he remained for eight years. Ever since coming from Eng- 
land he has had an eye on the future of the Sound country, and about this 
time he decided the opportunit}' had come for him to cast in his lot with the 
country. He at once engaged in the real estate and insurance business and 
is the oldest dealer in that line in the city, and he has profited by his long 
continuance in the business He has had the best interests of the city at 
heart and has done much to induce various manufacturing concerns to locate 
here. He has also aided in building up the place, and owns a number of 
residence properties. Mr. Vernon represents a number of the leading in- 
surance companies, and is acting as agent for many non-resident property 
owners, attending to their loans and their general business. In 1900 he and 
his brother-in-law, Mr. Lee, and his son, William H., started the Palace of 
Sweets in Seattle, and they have built up a good trade and are now manu- 
facturing to a considerable extent. 

Mr. Vernon is independent in politics, but he has held the position of jus- 
tice of the peace for four years and police judge for two years. He married in 
England Miss Mary Lee, a daughter of John and Martha (Sellers) Lee, 
both living in Sheffield, England, and she was also a native of, that country. 
They have nine children, three sons and six daughters. Arthur is an en- 
gineer on the Great Northern. Edith May is the wife of John Taylor and 
resides in England. William Horace is intei^ested, as mentioned before, 
with his father in the Palace of Sweets. The others are Grace, Rose. Frank, 
Vemie, Lilly and Dora. 

EUSTACE B. SCOTT. 

Eustace B. Scott, secretary, treasurer and manager of the Seattle, Eve- 
rett & Tacoma Navigation Company, with office at the Coleman dock, is one 
of the most progressive and energetic young business men of Seattle, where 
his ability, enterprise and upright methods ha\e already established fot him 
an enviable reputation. Although he is quite young, comparatively, his i)op- 
ularity is established on a firm basis, that of his own well tested merit. 

Mr. Scot*^^ was born in Russell. Kentucky, Ma}' o. 1871. and is a son 
of Uriah I'., and Clarinda ( Lionberger) Scott, l)oth' natives of Ohici. In 
early life the father was engag^ed in boat-buiUling antl for ye^irs followed 
that occupation in the east, on the Ohio, Mississippi and .\rkansas rivers, 
until coming to the Pacific coast, after which he was similarly engaged on 
the Willamette and Columbia rivers until his removal to Portlanil, Oregon, 
in 1873. Since then he has been engaged in the navigation of the Sonnd 



594 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

aiul the CLinstniction ni vessels. Inimedialely after locating- in I'nrtlanil 'nc 
hi'.ilt tlie Ohio, and with her naxiijatcd the Willamette river in 1874 to Day- 
ton, which ])oint h.id nc\er hefore been reached by steamer. While in Port- 
land he also built the stcamshi]) City of Salem, and interested in the steam- 
ship Flyer. In 1898 he removed to Seattle to look after his interests here, 
and is to-day the president of the Seattle, Rverett & Tacoma Navigation 
Comi)any, which was incorporated in 1897, the other officers being John J 
Dockar, vice-president; rmd 1'. P.. Scott, secretary and treasurer. The 
vessels now in service are the steamship Greyhound, plying l)etween Seattle 
;iiid l'\erett: the steamship City of I'.verett. also pl\ing between those cities: 
and the magnificent new Telephone, one of the swiftest vessels of its class 
e\er built. Thjs x'cssel was designed bv ]l. Li. Scott and bnill especially for 
their service and is one of the most elegantly fin-nished ;ind completely 
equipped on the Pacific coast. 

Eustace B. Scott has spent his childliood, youth and early manhood 
on the coast, having' come to the west with his ])arents when only two years 
old. He received a liljeral English education in the high school and aca- 
demy of Portland, which was supplemented by a commercial course. .\t 
the age of twenty-one he accepted a position as freight clerk on the steamship 
Telephone, plying between Portland and Astoria. Oregon, which position 
he held for three years, and then spent four )ears as purser on the same 
vessel, resigning that jiosition to come to the Sound to take charge as man- 
aging owner of the steamship (ireyhound. On the loth of .\ugust. iSi;S. 
the com])any ])urchased the steamship City of Fverett, and on the J8th of 
October, the same year, the cf)mpany \\;is incori)orated under its j)resent 
management. It has a regidar and satisfactorv passenger tratVic between 
Seattle and other jjoints. which has increased to immense proportions, the 
books of the company showing' for the vear 1901 ninety thousand and fifty 
passengers. They have established a most satisfactory .service with their 
sw ift and elegantly fitted vessels, making three trips daily. 

On the 27th of December, 1898, Air. Scott was united in marriage to 
Miss Mame F. Robinson, a native daughter of the coast, having been bf>rn 
and reared in Portland. Her parents are James and Mary (Strong) Rob- 
inson. Our subject and his wife have a little daughter. Xanette. I'ratern- 
ally Mr. Scott is connected with the Benevolent and Protective Order of 
Elks and the Woodmen of the World, and religiously is a member of the 
First Baptist church. In his ])olitical views he is a Republican, but has had 
no time or inclination for i)ublic ol^fice. Since coming to Seattle he has de- 
voted his entire energies to the company of which he is now the manager. 



SEATTLE AND KIXG COUNTY. 595 

and wliich owes its success largely to his untiring efforts, good management 
and executive ability. He is a very wide-awake and progressive business 
man, and wherever known is held in high esteem. 

GEORGE W. GABRIEL. 

The subject of this review is now serving in the important position of 
master mechanic for the Seattle Electric Company. Since 1891 he has made 
his home in this city, and during the intervening period he has been recog- 
nized as one of its most progressive and public spirited citizens. His birth 
occurred in Cincinnati. Ohio, on the 22d of Eebruary, 1838. and he is a sori 
of John Gabriel, who was a weaver by trade. He is one of the two surviving 
children, his younger brother being still a resident of Cincinnati, Ohio. The 
son George W received his early education in the public schools of his native 
city, and learned the machinist's trade in a boiler factory. .\t the first call for 
volunteers to aid in suppressing the rebellion he enlisted in Company C. Fifth 
Ohio, and was in camp until the 22d of April, 1861. At the end of his three 
months' term of enlistment he re-enlisted for service m Company C. under 
Captain Foley, and served as one of Fremont's body guards. .Vmong the 
many important battles in which Mr. Gabriel participated during his military 
career may be mentioned the engagement at Springfield, and he remained 
with Fremont until the latter was superceded, after which he was employed 
on the Nashville Railroad, then a government road used in carrying muni- 
tions of war. Returning thence to the north, he secured employment in the 
Chicago & Northwestern Railroad Company's shops at Chicago, there re- 
maining for about two vears, while for the following' seven years he was a 
resident of Baraboo, Wisconsin, and then for the long period of fourteen 
years was an employe of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad Com- 
l^any. His next engagement was with the Union Pacific in Wyoming, one 
year later he secured employment with the Northern Pacific, and for a time 
thereafter was at Helena and Butte. Montana, in search of a location that 
would prove beneficial to his wife's ill health. Deciding then to come to 
Washington, he was given charge of the mechanical department of the street 
railway at Tacoma. and a year later he came to Seattle and entered the em- 
ploy of what was then known as the Seattle. Lake Shore & Eastern Railroad ; 
but later this road was placed in the hands of a receiver and Mr. Gabriel then 
took charge of the shops of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, to 
which he ga\e his attention until January, 1900. .\t that date he assumed 
the responsilile ])ositii)n of master meclianic for the Seattle Electric Coni])any. 



596 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

a position wliicli lie still continues to till to the utmost satisfaction of all. 
When he entered upon the duties of this office the company owned but a 
small shop and twenty-five cars, but under his wise and able supervision two 
large shops have been erected, and the company now give employment to one 
himdred and seventy-five men, while they have also built and rebuilt twenty 
cars. Thus they have been able to keep pace with the wonderful growth of 
the city, and they now do all their own work with the exception of making 
the castings. 

The marriage of Mr. Gabriel was celebrated in Cleveland, Ohio, when 
Miss Mary A. Cole became his wife. Four children have been born of this 
union, two of whom died when young, and the two surviving are : Edward, 
who is serving as freight agent for the Seattle Electric Company ; and Albert 
C who is engaged with a mining company in Ashland, Oregon. In his 
fraternal relations Mr. Gabriel is connected with the Masonic order, holding 
membership with lodge No. 87, Free and Accepted Masons, and with Seattle 
Chapter No. 3. Royal Arch Masons. In his political relations he is inde- 
pendent, while religiously he is connected with the Episcopal church. 

JACOB JUIJEN. 

Jacob Julien is a retired farmer and for several years has resided in Seat- 
tle, where he has become quite extensively interested in real estate. He was 
born at Bedford, Lawrence county, Indiana, an the iSth of October, 1830. 
His father, Renne Julien, was born in South Carolina in 1783, and when a 
young man emigrated westward, l)ecoming one of the pioneer settlers of 
Lawrence countw Indiana, where he made his home continuously until 1852, 
at which time he again journeyed westward. He took up his abode in Chari- 
ton, Iowa, where he spent his remaining days passing away on the [5th nf 
.March, 1861. He was of Scotch-Irish descent and manifested many of the 
sterling traits of character of the Scotch-Irish people. Throughout his en- 
tire business career he carried on argicultural pursuits. His wife, who bore 
the maiden name of Julia Henderson, was born' in Tennessee and died in 
Lawrence county. Indiana. 

Jacob Julien ol)t;iined his educition in the old time district schools of his 
native count} and in li's youth became familiar with the duties and labors of 
farm life, assistiiig in the cultivation of his father's farm. In 1852 he be- 
came a resident >>i Iowa runl purcliriscd a farm near Chariton. u])on whicli he 
lived until 1874. successfully carr\ing on agricultural pursuits during that 
period, lie then c:inK' tn King cnnnty. Washington, where he i)urchase(l 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 597 

sixty-eigfht acres of farm land on the Dwamish river, se\en miles from Seat- 
tle. Upon this place lie made excellent improvements and after a time sold 
the property and purchased a farm of one hundred and forty acres in the 
same locality. He carried on general farming for twenty years and his well 
tilled fields hrought to him a good return, and he also realized a handsome 
income from his stock dealing. At length he became interested in Seattle 
residence property, and for a number of years has spent the greater part of 
his time in this metropolis. 

While in the county of his nativity, in 1852, Mr. Julien was united in 
marriage to Amanda Rogers, a native of Tennessee and of English descent. 
Five children have been born to them, namel)' : James, Jacob and Renne, at 
home; Orlena, the wife of A. Robar, a resident of Seattle; and Lucretia, the 
wife of T. K. Ray, a farmer of King county. In his political affiliations Mr. 
Julien is a Democrat and for twenty-seven years he regularly voted in the 
Dwamish precinct. He has held the offices of school director and road super- 
visor for many years and is active and influential in public afifairs. He be- 
longs to St. John's Lodge, F. & A. M., which he joined twenty-seven years 
ago. He became a charter member of Seattle Chapter No. 3. R. A. M., which 
was organized January 2, 1883, and of which he was elected tyler. In his life 
he exemplifies the beneficent spirit of the craft. His career has been one of 
industry, and, brooking no obstacles that could be overcome by honest and 
persistent effort, he has steadily worked his way upward to success. 

EDGAR J. R(JUXDS. 

Edgar J. Rounds is the senior meniljer of the firm of Rounds, Ditlef- 
sen & Company, contractors and builders of Seattle, and has been a resident 
of this city since the 2d of January, iSqi. He was born in Crawford county, 
Wisconsin, May 27, 1865. His grandfather. Isaiah Rounds, was a native 
of New York and followed agricutural pursuits as a means of providing 
for his family. Removing to the west he took up his abode in Wisconsin 
where he spent iiis remaining days and jiassed away at the age of eighty- 
two years. Isaiah Rounds, Jr . llie father of our subject, was also a native of 
the Empire state and with the f.ninly went to Wisconsin where he subse- 
quently engaged in merchandising and was also a millwright. He put in the 
first water-power mill -in that pjirt of the country; it contained the old up and 
down saw, but later he remodeled the mill and ])ut in a turbine wheel and cir- 
cular saw. Not only an active and enterjirising business man but also a 
valued citizen, Isaiah Rounds was frequently called to official life and fillerl 



598 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

a number of couiily ottices with credit to himself and satisfaction to his 
constituents. He was also a prominent and valued member of the Methodist 
church, doing all in his power to advance the cause of Christianity and pro- 
mise the growth of the church, and in the organization with which he was 
connected Jie filled various official positions. He was married in New ^'ork 
to Luanna Rich, a representative of an old \'ermont family, and they became 
the parents of four children. 

Edgar J. Rounds, the youngest of these, and the only one now on tlie 
Pacific coast, pursued a jjublic school education in Wisconsin and later com- 
pleted a course in a liusiness college at Madison, that state. His training 
for the practical duties of life was in line of carpentering and after he had 
mastered his trade he worked as a foreman for the Chicago & Nortlnvestern 
Railroad. He afterward went to LaCrosse, Wisconsin, and thence made 
his way to the south. He went first to Nashville, but on leaving that state 
went to St. Louis, where he remained until his removal to Seattle, where he 
arrived on the 2d of January. 1891. Louring all his active years Mr. Rounds 
had engaged in carpentering and building, and his excellent workmanship 
had steadiK' secured him advancement, lie established his home in Seattle 
and began business on his own account as the member of the firm of Pick- 
arts & Company, but after a \ear he engaged in business alone and was with- 
out a partner for three years. He is now a member of the firm of Rounds. 
Ditlefsen & Company and has gained a high reputation in the line ol his 
chosen vocation. His work has been largely in building windows and stairs 
and other departments of carpentering of the iinest nature. He has erected 
the Columbia school at Columbia City, and several warehouses and tene- 
ments in Seattle, some of the latter costing as high as fifteen thou.sand dol- 
lars. He built and fitted up his sho]). which is well supplied with all the 
necessary machinery for the turning out of fine work in the line of his chosen 
specialty. His pay-roll amounts to three hundred dollars a week, except in 
the rush building season, when it largely exceeds that amount. 

On the 27th of Jiuie, 1892, in this city. Mr. Rounds was united in mar- 
riage to Susie E. Davis, a daughter of John Davis, of Wisconsin, who be- 
longed to an old family of Boston. Massachusetts. Their union has been 
blessed with two children. Fthelyn Byrne and Paul Edgar. In 1901 Mr. 
Roimds erected his home h.ere at 318 Maiden aveiuie and has also built and 
sold other houses in the city, his real estate business proving- a ])rofitable 
source of income. In politics he is a stalwart Republican, follow'ing the 
family exam])le in this direction. :iiid to some e.xtent has lalx)red for *the 
success of the party, but has ue\er sought <ifhce as a reward for party fealtx'. 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 599 

He belongs to tlie Knights of Pytliias fraternity and the Woodmen of tlie 
World. He is a devoted member of the Methodist church and also belongs 
to the Young Men's Christian Association. He is a \ery l)us\ man. yet is 
ever ready to pause in his business duties to distribute aid to those in need. 
He is wholly worthy of the respect which is freely tendered him, for his 
name has become synonymous with fair dealing, honorable business methods 
and all that is elevating and beneficial to the city and to the indisidual. 

E. C. DICKSON. 

E. C. Dickson, who is rilling the position of bookkeeper and shipping 
clerk for the Issaquah Coal Company at Issaquah, King county, is a native 
of Illinois, his birth having occurred at Rock Island on the 20th of Septem- 
ber, 1863. His father. George M. Dickson, was born in Harrisburg, Penn- 
sylvania, in 1839, and is of Scotch-Irish lineage. The paternal grandfather, 
John Dickson, became one of the pioneer settlers of the Keystone state, and 
when the country became involved for the second time in hostilities with 
England he joined the American arm_\- and fought in the war of i8tj. 
From his native state George M. Dickson moved westward and for many 
years operated a paper mill at Milan, near Rock Island, Illinois. He was 
also interested in a street-car line connecting the two places. In 1886 he 
went to Wichita, Kansas, w here he inaugurated a street railway system, and 
has since resided there. He married Julia A. Chisler, who was born in Mor- 
gantown. \\"est Virginia, in 1840. and is still living. 

E. C. Dickson, their son. was educated in the pnl)lic schools of Milan 
and in the Northern Illinois College at Fulton, that state. When his literary 
onu'se was completed he took up the work of bridge-building. He was then 
nineteen years of age and he entered the employ <>f the M. Lesic Bridge 
Company of Chicago, spending two years in their uperating department. In 
1884 he became connected with the Horine-Wagner C'(Mupany, conducting 
a commission house at Omaha, Nebraska, where he continued for nineteen 
months. On the expiration of that period he purchased an interest in the 
Wichita Paper Company. incor])orated, at Wichita, Kansas, with which he 
was connected for two years, when he sold his interest in the business, antl 
in 1888 came to Seattle. Washington. I'or about two years he was in the 
employ of H. M. Jones and J. .M. Coleman and afterward spent several 
years in .Seattle as a political worker in the ranks of the Republican party. 
In 1893 ''"^ went to Placer county, California, where he spent eight months 
engaged in ])lacer mining. Through the succeeding fourteen months he was 



boo REPRESENTATIVE CTITZENS Ol' 

employed as a clerk in the store of the firm of Harris & Dewett of San Fran- 
cisco, and in the fall of 1897 he went to Alaska. For a time he had charge 
of the Brooks pack train, lietween Skagway and Bennett, and later became 
collector on the Brackett wagon road, from Skagway to the summit of tlie 
White Pass. When he temiinated that business relation he entered the em- 
ploy of Hugh Foy, the contractor who built the White Pass & Yukon Rail- 
road, and next accepted a clerkship with Frank Twichel, who had charge of 
tin commissary dei)artment of the White Pass & Yukon Company. 

In 1899 Air Dickson returned to Seattle and the following year came 
to Issaquah to accept the position of bookkeeper and shipping clerk with the 
Issaquah Coal Company, extensively engaged in the mining of coal in this 
portion of the county. He has held some vtry important positions and is 
well qualified for the responsibilities of the one which he is now filling. His 
business connections have taken him into many sections of the country an<l 
thus he has gained a somewhat comprehensive knowledge of America and 
of the interesting Alaska counlr)-. On the 9th of November, 1893, Mr. 
Dickson was married in San b'rancisco. the lady of his choice l)eing Miss 
Abbie Arm.strong, who was born in Pennsylvania in 1872. They have made 
many frienrls since coming to Issaiinah and are now well known in the town. 

JOHN HUTTON. 

One of the venerable citizens of Seattle and one who is well known and 
held in unequivocal confidence and regard in the community is Mr. Hutton. 
and though he has passed the psalmist's span of three .score years and ten. 
he is still vigorous and giving as active attention to the duties of his pro- 
fession, that of marine and mechanical consulting engineer, as though two 
decades less rested upon his head. His life has been a somewhat eventful 
one and abounds in mteresting experiences, while he has not only become 
widely known for his exceptional skill as a mechanic, but he has also lived 
a life of signal usefulness and lionoi-. having labored in divers sections of the 
world and having at all times directed his course according to the highest 
principles of honor and integrity. Mr. Hutton has made his home in Seattle 
since the year 1885, and even a lirief sketch of his career is certain to be 
read with pleasure by his many friends. 

John Hutton comes of staunch old English stock, and he is himself a 
native son of the "right little, tight little isle." having been born in Buck- 
inghamshire, England, on the _vl '^f January, 1825, being the son of John 
Hutton, wlKise hneage traces brick- manv generations in England. John 





'/ d'^Lyt^^^ui a^-i 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 60 1 

Hutton, Sr.. was a skilled mechanic and in his line achieved a reputation of 
more than local urder. He married a member of an old and distinguished 
Scottish family, .ind they both passed their lives in Great Britain, having be- 
come the parents of thirteen children, of whom eleven are living at the present 
time. 

After receiving such advantages as were to be had in the schools of his 
native place during his early boyhood, the subject of this sketch began to 
prepare himself for the practical duties and responsibilities of life. At the 
age of fourteen years he entered upon an apprenticeship as a mechanic, serv- 
ini,"- in the great establishment of the celebrated firm of Easton & Amos, one 
of the most extensive concerns of its kind in the city of London, and in order 
to secure for him the privilege of acquiring his trade under the effective 
direction implied, the mother of Mr. Hutton paid a large premium to gain 
for him the place as an apprentice. He completed a full apprenticeship of 
seven years, and as a journeyman found employment with Scott & Russell 
and other noted firms of machinists and ship-builders of London and other 
English cities, while later he was similarly employed by leading concerns in 
Australia and New Zealand, having thus been enlisted in the service of the 
I>est marine comjjanies uf the British possessions. In New Zealand Mr. 
IJutton established a lucrative business upon his own responsibility, success- 
fullv conducting the enterprise for about seven years and thence going to 
the city of Melbourne, Australia, where he remained until 1870, when he 
shipped for San Francisco, arrix^ing at his destination in due course of time. 
In that city he accepted a position in the Risden Iron Works, and after he 
had there passed eight days in a subordinate capacity, he had so demon- 
strated his exceptional skill and ability that he was given full charge of the 
works, as foreman, being thus shown preference over many really competent 
men who liad been in the employ of the concern for years. He showed a 
greater technical knowledge and greater mechanical facilit}' than did any 
of the others, and the fact did not Jong wait recognition on the part of the 
operators of the plant. At the expiration of one year Mr. Hutton resigiied 
his position and became chief engineer of the pioneer American steamship, 
the Nevada, plying" between San Francisco and New Zealand, and owned 
by W. H. W'eblj. of New York. He retained this position for eighteen 
monlhs and then assumed a similar incumbency on the steam vessel Prince 
Alfred which was wrecked off the headlands of San h'rancisco some time 
later. After this disaster Mr. Hutton returned to San Francisco and ac- 
cepted the position of chief engineer with the firm of Goodall & Perkins, and 
fur the following three or four years was engaged in the north and south 

38 



602 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

coastwise trade. W'itliiii this jieriod he grew satiated with seafaring life, 
and lie linally settled in San I'rancisco. and was there employed at different 
intervals in a number ol' the niost important machine shops of the city. 
Finally he again became chief engineer in connection with maritime service, 
and was holding this position on the steamboat Edith in 1889, when he came 
to Seattle and here took up his permanent aljode. Here he established the 
machine shops at the Commercial dock, between Madison and Marion 
streets, and though the enterprise had a most modest inception, his excep- 
tional talent in the line of his work soon attracted an appreciative supporting 
patronage, and the business constantly expanded in scope and importance. 
He withdrew from the same in 1897. since which time the shops have l)een 
successfully conducted by his son. Arthur F., who acquired his trade under 
the effective direction lif his fiither .i.nd who is likewise known as a skilled 
mechanic in every particular. In the establishment all kinds of machine 
work .and marine repairing arc done, and employment is given to a corps of 
from fifteen to fifty capable assistants, regulated b\- the exigencies of the 
season and demands. The son proves an able successor, being a man of 
the finest skill as an engineer and mechanic, and it is a satisfaction to his 
father that lie was thus able to place the enterprise which he had founded 
into the hands of one capaltlc of sustaining his own high reputation. 

Mr. Hutton is known as one of the best informed and most expert 
marine engineers on the Pacific coast, and his fine mechanical talent has been 
fortified by more than half a century of practical experience in the technical 
and general work of his profe^ision. so that recour.se is had to his advice and 
counsel by the leading" vessel com|)anies of the coast, while implicit confi- 
dence is invariably i)laced in his jiulgment. lie is well known among the 
marine circles of the coast, and his poindarity is attested by the hearty greet- 
ings ever accorded him by those wlio have known him long and well. In 
ixjlitics Mr. Hutton is not guided by strict partisan lines, ])referring to exer- 
cise his franchise in su|)]X)rt of tho.se men and measures deemed worthy of 
his aid. as tending to conserve the best interests of the people in general. 

In the city of London, in 1845, Mr. Hutton was united in marriage to 
Miss Ann Cato, who was born in Hertfordshire, England, the eldest daugh- 
ter of William Cato, a manufacturer of that shire, which was the home of 
the ancestors of George Washington. Mr. and Mrs. Hutton became the 
parents of tour sons and nine daughters, of whom eleven are )'et living. Of 
the .sons we record that Ernest C. is engaged in the mercantile business in 
New Zealand; Harry W. is one o! the leading maritime lawyers of the San 
Francisco Ijar and is ])roniinent in cmmection with the affairs of the muni- 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 603 

cipal government; Frank is engaged in Imsiness in San Diego, California; 
and Alfred F. is his father's successor in carrying on the machine shops prev- 
iously mentioned. The names of the seven daughters are as follows: Lou- 
isa, Rosa, Clard, Annie, Bessie, Catherine and Alice, all married. Mr. Hut- 
ton is an Odd Fellow and has filled every ofifice in the order and at present is 
past provincial grand master. He has a comfortable home at 512 East Lake 
avenue, and is passing the evening of his days in that dignified independence 
and contentment which properly cro\Mi a life of earnest toil and endeavor. 

EDWARD O. GRAVES. 

In all the northwestern sections of this great country there is no man 
more familiar with the questions of finance as related to our country and 
our government than Edward O. Graves, the president of the ^^'ashington 
National Bank. His broad and comprehensive knowledge comes through 
a most earnest and thorougli study of the question in relation to the dis- 
charge of oflicial duties in the treasury department in our national capi- 
tal. For years he was a prominent representati\'e of official life in Wash- 
ington and his connection therewith was only severed when he resolved 
to engage in a private banking business in the northwest. Fie bears an 
unassailable reputation as an ofiicial, and the same unfaltering honestv and 
reliability has been manifest in the conduct of the banking institution with 
which he is now associated. .Vo resident of Seattle is held in higher regard 
or more fully deserves the confidence of his fellow men. 

Mr. Graves is a nati\e of Herkimer county. New York, born on the 3d 
of August, 1S43, 'I'l'^' is of English descent, his ancestors, howe\-er, cross- 
ing the Atlantic from the "merrie isle" at an early period in the develop- 
ment of New England, where the)- located. They became residents of Mas- 
sachusetts and took an active part in public affairs that are now chronicled 
on the pages of history. Russell Ciraxes, the great-grandfather of Ed- 
ward O., aided in throwing ofi^ the yoke of British oppression, serving as 
a member of the colonial army in the war of the Revolution. John Graves, 
the grandfather, became one of the pioneer settlers of Herkimer county. 
New York, and was one of the early sheriffs there. Later he represented 
his district in the state legislature. He was Imrn in Connecticut and mar- 
ried Esther .Smith, whose father, Ozial Smith, was one of the first men 
to establish a Iiome in Eric county. New '^'^ork. He was a resident of Buf- 
falo in i8[_' when the city was Inirned b\- the English. Mr. and Mrs. 
Graves owned a tract of land in ihat citv where the Tiff House now stands. 



6o4 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

She was a lady of remarkable energy and capaljility and attained to the 
very advanced age of one hundred and one years. Among the children 
horn to this worthy couple was Solomon Graves, whose birth occurred in 
1 819, in Herkimer county, where he spent the greater part of his life, be- 
coming a leading and influential citizen, and leaving the impress of his strong 
individuality upon public affairs. He was a member of the state legisla- 
ture and largely aided in shaping public thought and opinion. He mar- 
ried Miss Margaret Smith, who was born in 1821 in Erie county. She 
still survives him at the age of eighty-one years and is held in the warmest 
regard by all who know her. Of their family three sons still sur\-ive. 

Edward O. Graves was provided with excellent educational ])rivileges 
antl (in completing his course in Hobart College in tjeneva. New York, 
he entered governmental service and for a number (if years was one of the 
most reliable and capaWe representatives of the treasury department. His 
first position was a clerkship under the secretary of the treasury, Hon. 
F. K. Spinner, who had been deputy sheriff of Herkimer county in his 
early manhood under John Graves, the grandfather of our sul)ject. In 1868 
E. O. Graves was promoted to chief clerk- in the treasurer's office and 
when the first civil service examinations were inaugurated he was made 
chief examiner, while on the 1st of July, 1874, he was made superintendent 
of the redemption agency for the redemption of national bank notes, an 
otticc which he organized in its minutest detail, making it one of the model 
offices of the government. In 1883 he was appointed In- President Arlhiu' 
assistant treasurer of the United States, and on the 1st of July. 1885. was 
made chief of the bureau of engraving aiul printing. Ilius promotion after 
promotion came to him, adding to his resp(jnsibilities. for his wfirth was 
recognized and his fidelity was above question. 

In the spring of 1889 Mr. (Graves came to Seattle and made arrange- 
ments for the organization of the Washington National Bank. He then 
returned to the capital and resigned his position in order to take up hi.- 
abode here ;uid complete the organization of the bank. He was made it: 
))resident and in July opened the bank for business, continuing to manage 
and "control its affairs most successfully until March, 1900. when he de- 
cided to retire from active business, and soon afterward found rest and 
recreation in traveling abroad. He is also a partner hi the l)ank at \\''hat- 
com as a member of the firm of Graves & Purdy. this institution being 
the largest bank in northwestern Washington. Thoroughly familiar with 
banking business and wonderfully con\-ersant with financial interests, Mr. 
Graves has made the two banks leadim;' financial establishments and 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 605 

has so conducted them that they annually return good dividends, while 
furnishing the public with a perfectly reliable place of deposit, exchange 
and general banking business. Mr. Graves has also been president of the 
Chamber of Commerce, which has had important bearing on business in- 
terests in Seattle. During his twenty-one years of government service he 
was chairman of a commission to examine the New York custom house, 
and of various other important commissions, his recummendations in which 
resulted in large savings to the go\'ernment, while the fact that he held 
his i^osition for so long a time in Washington, during many changes of 
administration, proves conclusively that he brought to his duties such ability, 
honor and fidelity as are deseiA'ing of the highest praise. His was a most 
\alued public ser\-ice, whose duty was ever his paramount interest, and 
he won the friendship as well as trust and regard of man}- oi the most prom- 
inent men of the country. 

Air. Graves was married in 1868 to Miss Clara E. (lale, a native of 
^\'ashington, D. C. and a daughter of Dr. Leonard D. Gale, a scientist of 
great prominence who assisted Professor Morse in the invention of the tel- 
egraph. Air. and Mrs. Graves have two daughters, Jessie and Evaline C, 
at home, while their son Edward Bertram is in the employ oi the surveyor 
general of Washington. The family are members of St. Alark's Episcopal 
church and their home is the center of a cultured society circle. 

JOHN COLLINS. 

The glory of our republic is in the perpetuation of individuality and in 
the according of the utmost scope for individual accomplishment. Fostered 
under the most auspicious of surroundings that can encomi)ass one who has 
the will to dare and to do, our nation has almost spontaneously produced men 
of finest mental caliber, of true \'irile strength and vigorous purpose. The 
cradle has never been one of pampered luxur}-, but the modest couch of in- 
fancy has often rocked future greatness. American liiography thus becomes, 
perhaps, one of more perfect individuality, in the general as well as the spe- 
cific case, than does that of any other nation of the globe. Of America is 
the self-made man a product, and the record of accomplishments in thi$ indi- 
vidual sense is the record v.duch the true and loyal .\merican holds in deep- 
est regard and highest honor. In tracing the career of the subject of this 
review we are enabled to gain a recognition of this sort of a record, for he is 
a man of broadest intellectuality and one who has attained to distinguished 
honors. For this reason there is particular interest attaching to the points 



6o6 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

which mark his progress in Hfe, and this sketch is amply justified. There is 
no citizen in Seattle who has been a more important part in its history, his 
name being closely interwoven with progress along the various lines which 
contribute to advancement and welfare for the common rights. 

Mr. Collins is a native of Ireland, having been born in Cootehill, county 
Cavan, in the province of Ulster, on the 27th of Noveml^er, 1835. He rep- 
resents old families of that land and his ])arents were Patrick and Mary 
(Dinning) Collins, industrious farming people. The father attanied the 
age of sixty-eight years, and after his death the mother came to America to 
live with her son John in Seattle, where she died at the age of eighty-three 
years. Thev were both devout members of the C^atholic church and died in 
that faith. 

John Ciillins left his home and native land when only ten years of age. 
crossing the .Vtlantic to New York city, where amid strangers he began life 
on his own account. After six years .spent in the eastern metropolis he re- 
moved to Machias, Maine, where he engaged in driving a team and later 
became connected with the lumber interests of that state, continuing in that 
line of bu.-^iness until 1857. Becoming convinced that the west offered bet- 
ter opportunities than the old and more thickly settled east, he decided to 
remove to the Pacific coast. Arriving in San I'Vancisco, California, he re- 
mained in that city until September, when he came to Puget Sound and 
entered the employ of the Puget Sound Mill Company in their sawmill at 
Port Gamble. He had acquired a thorough knowledge of the business prior 
to this tinie. and his efficient service enabled him to command good wages. 
Saving his earnings he remained with the company for ten years and thai 
made judicious investments of his capital in real estate. While in Seattle he 
purchased property and built a hotel. Studying the conditions of the country 
and its possibilities, he ijecame convinced that Seattle had a brilliant future 
before it. .and accordingly he visited the town and jnu'chascd city property. 
In 1867 he took up his abode here and assumeil the management of the Occi- 
dental Hotel, in which he owned a two-third interest. ]""or a number of years 
he conducted this hotel most successfully and became its sole owner. But 
he did not confine his attention alone to this line. He is a man of resourceful 
business ability and marked enterprise and carries forward to a successful com- 
pletion whatever he undertakes. His business interests, too. have been of 
such a nature that they have contributed in large measure to the general pro- 
gress and pro.sperity, as well as to his individual success. He was prominent 
in the buikling of railroads and in the oj)ening up of coal mines, two lines 
that have Iwen of great benefit and material assistance to this part of the 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 607 

state. He also made many investments in realty and platted the Collins addi- 
tion 10 tb.e city, lie Iniilt tlie Seattle Motel block and the Collins block and 
became the owner of other valuable property, lie has, indeed, through 
many years been one of Seattle's most successful, prominent and enterpris- 
ing business men. doing all in his power to advance the city's interests. He 
was one of the organizers of the gas company, and his counsel, as well as his 
financial aid, has been a potent element in the conduct of many important 
enterprises of great value here. 

Mr. Collins has been no less prominent and active in political affairs, 
and today is classed among' the leaders of the Democratic party in the state. 
On the organization of the city government in 1869. he was electeil a member 
of the city council and served so satisfactorily to his constituents that he was 
elected for three consecutive terms, while in 1S77 he had the honor of being 
elected mavor, being the sixth incumbent in that office. He exercised his 
official iirerogati\'es in support i)f e\en- measure and movement for the gen- 
eral good. He was largely instrumental in inducing the city to establish and 
own its own water works and to control its own harbor front, that it might 
enjoy the benefit of the revenue derived therefrom. He was also ;i member 
of the committee to form the new city charter and in 1882 he was elected a 
member of the council of the territorial legislature and served during the ses- 
sion of 1883-84. During that time he \\as chairman of the committee of com- 
merce and member of the committee of ways and means. In this way he ren- 
dererl the territorv \erv \ainal)lc -^erxice. o])posing in the most vigorous and 
capaljle manner c\ery measure w hich he deemed detrimental and aiding with 
e(|ual force and persistence e\er\- movement which he believed would be for 
the benefit of the territory. He was \ery acti\c in securing the passage of the 
bill appropriating six thous;\nd dnllnrs for the territorial university, the largest 
sum which up to that time had been given the institution. The bill was 
strongly opposed, but Mr. Collins" able efforts in its behalf at length pre- 
vailed and it was passed. — a work of great valtie to the cause of education in 
the territory, as all now acknowledge. His efforts in all his public life have 
been creditable to the people whom he represents, as well as of great benefit 
to the city and the state. He lias also been \tr\ active in the councils of his 
patry, attending first the territorial con\entions and later the state conven- 
tions, while on one occasion he was sent as a delegate to the Democratic 
national con\cntiou which numinated drover Cleveland for president of the 
United States. 

In 1855 Mr. Collins was happily married to Miss Mary .Ann Macalroy, 
and to them were born four children, but only one is now living. ICnima T., 



6o8 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

who is at iKimc with !ier lather. The mother departed this Hte in 1871, and 
in 1878 Mr. Coihns was attain married, his second uniim being with Ange- 
hne B. Jackhng. by w horn lie lias tVnir children : lulena. John F., Edward 
and Catherine. AH are members oi the Catholic church, to which Mr. Col- 
lins has ever contril)uted most libera!l\ . but while he is tirm in his faith, he 
has also been most generous in his contributions to other churches, to benevo- 
lent enterprises and to all measures relating to the city's progress and sub- 
stantial upbuilding. With hrm belief in Seattle, he identified his interests 
witli hers and has been unswerving in his allegiance. The city has met his 
expectations, but no man in all Seattle has been more active and enterprising 
in his eflorts for the general good. Mr. Collins is a man of di.stinctive abil- 
ity and his character is one wliich i.-> al)o\e a shadow of reproach. He has 
been faithful to the high offices in which he has l>een called to serve, and is 
widely known and respected by all who have been at all familiar with his 
honorable and useful career. 

EDW IN \V. HOUGHTON. 

In this age of specialization when the aggregate world's work is divided 
into many parcels and each one is assigned to a different specialist, the per- 
spective of the whole amount is lost, and one does not appreciate the extent 
and variety of industry as was the case when men were each a kind of Robin- 
son Crusoe obliged to make everything and perform every work which pro- 
videcj^^r the necesssaries of life. In this complexity of modern life surely 
one o^ the most important of our special workers is the architect, the builder 
of our homes and constructor of the public and private edifices which are 
the wonder of Uhe world. In this class of men is to be reckoned Mr. Edwin 
W Houghton, to whom one can ascribe, as he walks through the business 
district of Seattle, Washington, the erection of many of the substantial struc- 
tures which are the hnme of the commercial interests of that city. 

His father's name was Thomas, an Englishman, who was induced to 
come to America by an elder brother about 1850. He became interested in 
a tinancial way with the meat packing and shipping industry, which was then 
only in its infancy, with little prophecy of the vast proportions which it was 
destined at this present day to assume. But later he sold out and returned 
to England, where he spent the remainder of his life. 

Edwin Vvas born in Hampshire, England, August 5. 1856. He was 
e<lucated first in the i)ublic schools and later in King Edward's grammar 
school. Ho tlicn went into the oHice i>f his uncles, who were prominent archi- 





^ 




7 



u 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 609 

tects in Chc-lsea, London, and had been in the business and in the same office 
fur about sixty years. Thus he was enabled to acquire a very thorough 
training-, and he also gained much practical knowledge of the craft by work- 
ing for an elder brother. This brother, Thomas Marcus Houghton, is a 
prominent English architect, a member of the British Institute of Architects, 
Society of \rts. Sanitary Institute, and master of chancery in all courts of 
justice. After he had carried on this preliminary work for a few years and 
was able to stand on his own feet, as it were, he married and in 1884 decided 
to make America the field of his endeavors. He first spent some time in the 
east, then came to the Pacific coast, and in 1S89 cast in his lot with that of 
the growing city of .Seattle. It was abdut this time that the big lire swept away 
a large part of the city, and thus afforded a good field for the builder. He 
became associated with a Mr. Saimders. and they built a number of business 
houses, souk: of the more prominent being the Bailey building, the P. I. 
building, Olympic block, the headquarters of the city fire department. Rain- 
ier hotel, four of the city school buildings. In 1892 Mr. Saunders went east, 
and since then Mr. Houghton has been alone in the business. Some of the 
more recent buildings which he has erected are: The Arcade, the Esta- 
brook, the Curtis, the Cascade laundr\-, the Lippy. the Cataract Company, 
the r)tis, the Grand Opera House of Seattle, the Spokane Theatre, the Grand 
Opera House at Butte, Montana, Beck's Theatre at New Whatcom, besides 
many residen.ces. This is certainly a good record, and he could desire no 
better monument to his deeds than this list of structures, many of which will 
bo in existence long after their builder has passed away. 

Mr. Houghton is a well rounded man and has been interested in other 
matters than his business. He is a Republican in politics ; he belongs to the 
Trinity parish church and for three years sang in its choir; and he is a mem- 
ber of the Chamber of Commerce, the Seattle Driving Club, the Society of 
Engineers, and an associate of the \mciican Institute of Architecture. He 
finds his principal recreation in riding and. driving, and owns three fine riding 
horses. Mr. Ploughton was married in England in 1884, just before com- 
ing to this country. The lady of his choice was Margaret Ann Crude, who 
was of Devonshire family and a graduate of Edinburg L^niversity. They 
hriA-e had two children, but only ime is li\-ing. (iordon T. .\. 

JAY A. KELLOGG. 

In political circles as well as in business life Jay A. Kellogg has long 
lieen recognized as a leader in \\'ashington. In addition to many local po- 
sitions, he has served for four vears as state senator and has labored camestlv 



6io REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

and loyally kir the best interests of city, cuuniy and state. He has spent 
nearly his entire life upon the Pacific coast, ancl the spirit of enterprise and 
progress so characteristic of this section (jf the country is exemplified in -his 
career. .\ lawyer by profession, in addition to his practice he is also engaged 
in the leai estate, loan and insurance business. 

Mr. Kellogg was born in Boone county, Illinois, in 1853. His father, 
Eli 1). Kellogg, was born in Vermont and after residing for some years in 
Ilhnois made a trip to California in 1859. Three times he crossed the ])lains, 
returning to the east in order to buy horses, wliicli he brought t)ack witli liim 
to California. He had no trouble with the lndi;uis. Init the party which im- 
mediately followed that with which he traveled were molested by the red 
men and lost considerable stock. Eli Kellogg engaged in milling, farming 
and merchandising. He took a prominent part in public affairs, was recog- 
nized as a leading and influential citizen of his community and was called to 
repre.sent his district in the state legislature, where he served for two terms, 
proving a valued member of the house. In his ]X)liticaI affiliations he was a 
Repubhcan. In Illinois he was united in marriage to .Miss Margaret Pa.ssage, 
and to ihem were born ftnn- children of whom <jur subject and a sister are 
li\ing in Seattle. The father also resides in this state, making his home 
in Lincoln county, and is the owner of over eight hundred acres of \ery fine 
and valuable wheat land south of Spokane. In bis business affairs he has 
prospered, becoming one of the well-to-do residents of Lincoln county, and 
he is also ])rominent in public affairs there and has served as count\ com- 
missioner. 

When xevy young Jay A. Kellogg was taken 1>\ his ]>arents to Cali- 
fornia, v.here he was reared, pursuing his preliminary education in tlie pub- 
lic sciiools and later attending .St. Joseph College. In 1879 he came to 
Washington and entered upon his business career as proprietor of a jewelry 
store in Dayton, where he remained until his remoxal to Seattle. Desiring 
to fit himself for the profession of l;iw, he beg;m reading under the direction 
of a ])receptor, and in Dayton was admitted to the bar, after which he aban- 
doned mercantile pursuits in order to engage in practice. On his removal 
to Seattle he also became engaged in the real estate and loan business. He 
has made a specialty of the former and has been very successful. Xo man 
in the city is better informed concerning realty values and the possil>ilities 
of the real estate market than our subject. His business methods, in strict 
conformity with the ethics of commercial life, combined with his enterprising 
spirit and unfailing courtesy, have gained him the public confidence, and 
therefore he is enjoying well meritoil prosperitv in liis undertakings. 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 6ii 

Mr. Kellogg' has been twice married. Iri iJayton, this state, lie wedded 
Miss Sina Coleson. and to them were bom Iwd children, Jay C and June. 
.\fter the death of his first wife Mr. Kellogg was again married, in Spokane, 
in 1895, when Cora Lake became his wife, and they now have one son. Li 
1898 he erected his present home, which is a pleasant one, and there hospi- 
tality reigns supreme. Mr. Kellogg is an important factor in political circles 
and is found among the stalwart supporters of the Republican party. While 
at Dayton he .served for three terms, covering si.x years, as county auditor 
and four successive terms was mayor of that city. He was also iionored 
with election to the state senate and served so capal)ly that he was re-elected. 
He left the im]jress of his individuality upon the legislature enacted during 
that period, for he was an active working member of the upper house and 
labored earnestly for the adoption of every measure which he believed would 
contribute to the general good. Since coming to Seattle in 1897 he has been 
sent as a delegate to various city, county and state conventions. Fraternally 
he belongs to the Masonic order, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and 
the Knights of Pythias fraternity, in which he is connected with the uni- 
formed rani-. He is also identified with the Benevolent and Protecti\e Order 
of Elks and with the Seattle Chamljer of Commerce. He stands as a high 
type of our .\merican manhood, energetic and reliable in business, loyal and 
progressi\-e in citizenship and trustworthy in all the private relations of life. 

ALPHIUS BYERS. 

Alphins B\-ers. who has attained distinction as one of the ablest mem 
bers of the Seattle bar, is now practicing" as a member of the firm of Byers 
& Byers. In this profession probablv more than in anv other success de- 
pends upon individual merit, upon a thorough understanding of the prin- 
ciples of jurisprudence, a power of keen analysis, and the ability to present 
clearly, concise!}- and forcibly the strong points in his cause. Possessing, 
these necessar\- qualifications, Mr. Byers is accorded a foremost place in 
the ranks of the profession in Washington, and stands to-day as one of 
the most esteemed members of the Seattle bar. He is also a prominent 
and influential member of the common council of the city. 

A nati\-e of Pennsylvania, Mr. Byers was born in Lawrence count}- on 
the Jjd of February, 1865, and is of English and Scotch ancestry. John 
and William r.\ers, who settled in IMaryland in 1630, were the j^rogen- 
itors of the fainil}- in America. Our subject's great-grandfather. l\obert 
Byers. was born in X^irginia and served in the Revolutionarv war, while 



6i2 REPRESENTATIVE CHTZENS OF 

tlie grand fatlier, \\'illiam Byers. was also a native of the Old Dominion 
and an officer in the war of 1812. The latter married Miss Betsey Russell, 
who was a native of Connecticut and a representative of an old New Eng- 
land family. From Virginia William Byers removed to Lawrence county, 
Pennsylvania, where he died at the rii)e old age of eighty-eight years. Eike 
his ancestors he was a Presbyterian in religious belief. The family was 
a most worthy and substantial one. 

Ambrose Byers, the father df our subject, was born on the old home- 
stead in Lawrence county, J'ennsylvania, in 1X24, and there s])ent his entire 
life as an industrious and upright farmer. In early manhood he was united 
in marriage with ]\Iiss Mary IMcCracken, a nati\e of Mercer county, Penn- 
sylvania. She came of a family which was also of Scotch origin and which 
for three generations had resided in this country. True to the patriotic 
instincts of his ancestors Ambrose Byers entered the Union army during 
the Civil war and fought for the old flag and the cause it represented. He 
departed this life in 1887, at the age of sixty-three years, and is still sur- 
vived by his wife, who is now seventy-three years of age. Both were val- 
ued members of the Presbyterian church, and held in the highest regard 
by all who knew them. To them were born eleven children, eight .sons and 
three daughters, of whom three sons are now on the Pacific slope, these 
being Horace G., professor of chemistry in the A\'ashington State Uni- 
versity ; and Obed A. and Alphius, who comprise the firm of Byers & Byers, 
engaged in the practice of law in Seattle. 

Alphius Byers acquired his literary cilucation at West Washington 
College, Penns\l\ania. and pursued his legal studies at the W^ashington Uni- 
versity in St. Louis. .Vfter his admission to the bar he came to Seattle in 
1892, his brother Obed A. having preceded him two years, and the\' at once 
formed the present partnership. Although they are engaged in general prac- 
tice, they make somewhat of a specialty of land, corporation and mercantile 
law, and are meeting with most gratifying success. They have prospered 
financially since coming west and have acquired considerable real estate of 
value in the city where they now make their home. 

In 1895 Alphius Byers was united in marriage with Miss Ada Shallade, 
a native of Wisconsin, and this union has been blessed by one daughter. 
Catherine A. Sociallv he is a member of the Knights of Pythias and the 
Royal .\rcaiuini, and he and his wife occup\- ;m enviable ])osition in social 
circles where intelligence and worth are the pass])orts into good society. 
Both he and his brother have lieen life-long Democrats, and are active in the 
work and councils of the party, attending its conventions and doing all within 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 613 

their p^wcr to secure its success. In 1900 our subject was elected a member 
of the cit\- council, and is now chairman of the judiciary committee and the 
committee on claims. In this capacity he is doing the city valued service, 
and is recognized as one of its most useful and public-spirited citizens 
Holding marked precedence among the members of the bar, and retaining a 
clientele of so representative a character as to alone stand as evidence of hi.- 
professional ability and personal popularity, Mr. Byers must assuredly be ac- 
corded a place in this volume. 

GEORGE E. WEBSTER. 

George E. Wel)Ster is a native of Boston, Massachusetts, born on the 
15th of October, 1845. His father, Alvah Webster, was born in New 
Hampshire, ]\Iarch 17, 1822, and was engaged in merchandising in Sand- 
wich, that state, for many years, but is now living retired from active busi- 
ness cares, enjoying a well earned rest. His wife, w-ho in her maidenhood 
was Manda Barber, was bom at Orleans, on Cape Cod, in 1825. and is also 
living. Both came of early New England families. 

Their son George E. acquired his education in the excellent public 
schools of Boston, and at seventeen years of age he l>egan earning his own 
living. He turned his attention to teaming and soon l>ecame extensively en- 
gaged in the mercantile transfer trade, being well known in this connection 
in Boston for a quarter of a century. From 1888 until i8yo he conducted a 
boarding stable in Boston, and in May, 1891, came west to Seattle. In Sep- 
tember of the same year he took up his abode in Enumclaw, where, in con-i 
nection with 1*'. O. Nickerson, he purchased the mercantile establishment for- 
merly owned liy the firm of Griffin & Blake. The new firm conducted the 
enterprise for seven years, and in 1897 Mr. Webster disposed of his inter- 
ests and returned to Boston, where he conducted a store for a year, but find 
ing that the eastern climate was seriously injuring his health, he returned to 
this city in 1898. During the period of his first residence here in 1892, he 
wa,s one of the organizers of the Enumclaw Improvement Company. This 
was composed of George E. Webster, W. H. Cooper. F. O. Nickercon, Sam- 
uel Lafromboise, Arthur E. Pool, and C. C. Reeber. They took an option on 
sixty acres of the townsite land from F. O. Nickerson, and during the three 
years of the existence of the company many valuable impro\ements were 
made in the town. Among the buildings erected was a hop Ikjusc. forty by 
one hundred feet, which was afterward turned into a creamery, but in 1902 
it was destroyed l)y fire. 'J1ic Improvement Company was force<l out of ex- 



6i4 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

istence by tlie great tinaiicial i)aiiic of uSyj. After liis return to Washing- 
ton, in 1898, Mr. Webster opened a grocerj- store at Green Lake, Seattle, 
where he remained until 1902. when he again came to Enumclaw and be- 
came a memlier of the Welister-Eckhart-Sj-ms Company, which was estal)- 
lished and incorporated in the spring of iQO-' rmd is now conducting a gen- 
eral mercantile store. 

In 1863 Mr. Webster was married in r.oston to l-'annie M. Savage, whu 
was born in Maine in 1S4S. In his political views Mr. Webster is a stalwart 
Republican, and he belongs to the Crescent Lodge of Masons at Enumclaw, 
having demitted from Faith Lodge of Boston, which he joined in 1871. His 
name is also on the membership rolls of iuuiniclaw Lodge No. 132. Inde- 
pendent Order of Odd Fellows. 

LEWIS R. DAWSON, M. D. 

Lewis R. Dawson. M. D., is one of the most successful, capable and di.s- 
tinguished members of the medical profession in Seattle. He has made his 
home in this city since 1884 and is enjoying a constantly increasing patron- 
age in the line of his chosen calling, as he has demonstrated his skill in coj^ing 
with the difficult problems which continually confront the physician. The 
Doctor is a native of Ohio, his birth having occurred in Warren, Trumbull 
county, on the 23d of June. 1856. The family is of English descent, but no 
record has been preserved concerning the establishment of the Dawsons in 
America. Isaac N. Dawson, the father of the Doctor, was born in Penn- 
sylvania and in early life lived in Newcastle, that state, where he engaged in 
the manufacture of linseed oil. He removed to Trumbull county, Ohio, 
and at Warren began the ninuifacture of linseed oil, in which work he was 
thoroughly posted and by reason of his experience, knowledge and capable 
management conducted a ])rosperous business. He became one of the lead- 
ing and iniluential citizens of Warren and look an acti\e part in the otiticial 
life of the city, serving as justice of the i>eace for many years, also as a mem- 
ber and president of the board of education, while for twelve years he occu- 
pied the position of chief executive of Warren, and his administration as 
mayor proved of practical lienefit to the city along lines of substantial im- 
provement and ])rogress. His death occurred there in 1878. In early man- 
hood he married Nancy L. Reeves, a daughter of John Reeves, a pioneer of 
Trumbull county, who was born in Connecticut and removed to Pennsyl- 
vania from that state and later became one of the first to locate in Trumbull 
countv, Ohio. M''.''^. Da\vson attained the age of seventv-four vears and her 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 615 

death occurred in July, 1900, wlien she was hiid to rest h\- the side of her 
husband in the cemetery in Warren. 

The Doctor was educated in the puliiic schools and later in the Western 
Reserve College, at Hudson, Ohio. Being thrown upon his own resources 
he eng'aged in teaching" school in Warren in order to meet the expenses ot a 
ciiUeg'e course. W'hen he had completed his literary education he at once 
entered upon the study of medicine under Dr. John R. Woods of Warren, 
and after his preliminar}' reading was accomplished he enteied the medical 
department of the Uni^ersit}' of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, and was graduated 
there in June, 1882, after three years of earnest and uni'emitting study. 
During the following year Dr. Dawson filled the position of assistant sur- 
geon at the Quincy copper mines of Hancock, Michigan, and then after 
visiting friends in the east came to Washington, spending some time in Walla 
\Valla, Tacoma and Portland, and in January, 1884, reached Seattle. He 
\isited these \arious places in search of a location and decided that the last 
named ottered the best opportunities. Accordingly he determined to take up 
his abode here, and his success in the line of his profession has demonstrated 
the wisdom of his choice. At first he was alone in practice, but in 1887 he 
entered into partnership with Dr. Thomas T. Minor, who was one of the 
most able members of the medical fraternity here. This relationship was 
maintained until the death of Dr. Minor in December, 1889. For about a 
year, in 1891-92, Dr. Dawson was engaged in the practice of medicine in 
partnership with Dr. James B. Eagleson, since which time he has been alone, 
and the large patronage accorded him is an indication of the confidence re- 
posed in him by the public. Alter his graduation he largely gave his atten- 
tion to the diseases of women and in that branch of medical practice was 
\ ery successful, Ijut since his return irnni the Spanish-American war his 
practice has been more general and has included considerable surgical work. 
Tlie Doctor has serx^ed for fifteen years in the national guard of the state 
and is now retired with the rank of lieutenant colonel. In December, 1884, 
hv enlisted in the Seattle Rifies, Company B, First Regiment, National Guard 
of Washington, and in September, the following year, was made second lieu- 
tenant, while in May, 1888, he became first lieutenant. In June, 1890, he 
was .appointed surgeon of the First Regiment of the National Guard of 
Washington with the rank of major, serving as such till 189^). when he was 
promoted to lieutenant-colonel and I>rigade-surgeon. and upon his honorable 
discharge after fifteen vears of faithful service he was retired with the latter 
rank. He was holding that rank at the time of the breaking out of the 
Spanish-American war in 1898, when he tendered his sen-ices to Governor 



6i6 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

Rodgers aiul was niipoinleil niaj'ir and surgeon of the l'"irst Washington 
Vohintcer Regiment. l'r<ini May until the following October he was oh 
duty at Vancouver liarracks. Washington, and in the Presidio of San Fran- 
cisco, and on the latter date was assigned with his regiment for duty in the 
Philippines. He was at the front at the battle of Santa Ana, and in all of 
the engagements in which the regiment participated, as well as the first ex- 
pedition under General Lawton against Santa Cruz. With his regiment he 
afterward returned home and was honorably discharged. 

The Doctor was married in 1888 and has two sons by this marriage, 
Lewis ]\. ;ind W. Ralph (". On October 6, 190-', he married Theresa Eliot 
Reno, a native of New York, lie is very prominent in fraternal and social 
organizations and belongs to Arcana Lodge No. 87, F. & A. M., Washing- 
ton Lodge of Perfection of the Scottish Rite, the Washington chapter of 
the Rose Croix and the Washington Council Knights of Kadosh. He has 
also attained die thirty-second degree in L.awson Consistory and l>elongs to 
Afifi Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Tacoma. He is likewise identified 
with the Spanish-American War Veterans and the Washington Chapter of 
Sons of the Revolution. He belongs to the Rainier Club, to the Seattle 
Athletic Association and to the Golf and Country Club. In the line of his 
profession he is connected with the King County Medical Society, Wasliing- 
ton State Medical Societ\ , the American Medical Association and the Asso- 
ciation of Military Surgeons of the United States. In manner he is kindly 
antl genial, and his unfailing courtesy, supplementing his pleasing person- 
ality and strong mind, makes Doctor Dawson popular with a large circle of 
friends. 

JOHN T. CONDON. 

John Tlionias (,'(in(li)n is now dean nf the law school which tVirms one 
(if the departments of the State University of Washington. This is his alni," 
mater and now be is honored with a position as a member of its facult\-. He 
has a comprehensixe knowledge of the princii)les of jurisprudence and is, 
moreover, possessed of the ability to impart clearly and concisely to other- 
the knowledge that he has accjuired. Air. Condon is a nali\e son of Wash- 
ington, his birth having occurred at Port Gamble on the .20lh of September, 
1863. His parents were John Stephenson and Catherine Ellen (O'Callag- 
han) Condon, botli of whom were natives of Ireland and were descended from 
oM families of that land. The father was born in the (.ouniy of Clare and the 
mother near the rit\- n\ ( "ork. I'or \'cars the Condons were connected with 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 617 

walks i)f life deniandinf;- strons^- mentality, were representative vi the pro- 
fessions and were teachers and professors in the University of Dublin. 

^Ir. Condon's father came to America in 1844, fi'^t making his way to 
Canada and thence to New York city. He was a \olunteer in the Mexican 
war. and served throughout the period of hostilities. He afterward went to 
San Francisco and ran on a steamer to Panama. In i860 he went to Port 
Gamble, \A"ashington, and engaged in the lumber business. He was there 
married and later came to Seattle, where in partnership with John Collins- 
and M. R. Maddocks he built the Occidental Hotel. After residing for foui 
years in Seattle he returned to Port Gamble, where he spent his remaining- 
days. He was a war Democrat and for several years held the office of coun- 
ty commissioner. Both be and his wife were devout members of the Catholic 
church and he died in that faith in 1882. His widow survives him and is 
now living with Professor Condon in Seattle. In the family were six chil- 
dren, of whom five are living, all bom in Port Gamble. Mary E. is now the 
wife of \\'illiam B. Jacking: Richard B. is superintendent of the mill in Port 
Gamble and is married and has two children; Alice E. is the wife of B. J. 
Griffith, of Seattle: Eleanor A. is a teacher in the schools of this cit}'. 

Professor Condon, the second of the family, was educated in the Uni- 
versity of Washington, being graduated with the class of 1888. He later en- 
tered the State University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, where he \Vas grad- 
uated in iSqi. and in 1892 he was a graduate of the law department of the 
Northwestern Uni\ersity of Chicago. He has since been engaged in the 
practice of his profession, carrying on a general law practice for several years 
in partnership with Mr. Wright, under the firm name of W^right & Condon 
In 1899 he was appointed dean of the law school of the University of Wash- 
ington and is now ably filling the position, giving his entire attention to his 
duties in connection therewith. He is an efficient educator and is accounted 
one of the learned members of the profession in the state of his nativity. 

JUNIUS ROCHISTER. 

One of the prominent members of the Seattle bar, and until recently 
a lecturer in the law school of the University of Washington, Junius Rochis- 
ter was the senior member of the law firm of Rochister, Corkerk & Childer 
He was a native of Kentucky, his birth having occurred in Damonvillc, that 
state, on the i6th of June, 1857. He represented an old English family, trac- 
ing the ancestry back to the mother country, although at a veiy earlv date 
rciiresentatives of the name came to America. The i)rogenitor of the family 



6i8 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

in this country was John Rocliisier. who came willi iwd brothers, and were 
the founders of the city of Rochester. New York, tlie place l>eing named in 
their honor. Later he settled in Hagcrst<j\m, Maryland, and Mr. Rochisler 
of this review is of the fifth generation of the family born in this country. 
From the original ancestor, John Rochester, the family name of John 
Rochester was continued through three generations in the line of direct de- 
scent to our subject, the spelling ha\ing been changed in the meantime to 
Rochister. The members of the family have ever been people of the highest 
worth, and advocates of all that tends to advance the country and its welfare 
along substantial lines of progress and improvement. The family was rep- 
resented in the war of the Revolution and the paternal grandfather of our 
subject was conspicuous in his connection with Daniel Boone in the ejuMy 
settlement of Kentucky. He had the honor of licing the first merchant within 
that territoiT. In religious faith he was a Presbyterian and died at the age 
of fifty years. 

Charles H. Rochister, the lather of oiu" subject, was born in KeiUucky 
on the 31st of January. 1817. He married Miss Mary L. Caldwell, a nati\e 
of his own state. She was of Huguenot I'rench anrl of Scotch-Irish ancestry 
and her people were equally early settlers of Kentucky, whence they removed 
from Virginia. Her father was the first .settler and a founder of Adair coun- 
ty, Kentucky, and served as clerk of the county and of the circuit courts. He 
and his son James occupied that position for sixty consecutive years. Charles 
Rochister was for a number of years a farmer, who was also very prominent 
in public affairs and during a long period hekl the oftice of railroad commis- 
sioner of Kentucky. He departed this life in the seventy-seventh year of his 
age, but his good wife still survives him in the seventy-.seventh year of her 
life, and resides in Independence, Missouri. They had seven children, of whom 
six are yet living. The father had also had seven children by a previous mar- 
riage, and his second wife continually cared for them as well as for her own 
children, and deserved great credit for moulding the characters of ,ill so that 
tiiey became honored residents of their respective localities. One of the sons 
is now in Seattle, G. A. C. Rochister being a prominent member of the bar 
here. 

Junius Rochister ac(|uired his education in the University of \'irginia 
and studied law in the office of his uncle in Louisville, Kentucky, being ad- 
mitted to the bar in that state on the 27th of April, 1879. For two years he 
engaged in practice in the east, and in 1884 came to Seattle, where he at once 
opened a law office. The following year he entered into partnership with the 
Hon. J. B. Metcalfe, then the attorney general of the tcrrilorv. this relation 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 619 

being maintained until XovemI)er, i8<S(>, when Mr. Rocliistev was elected 
probate judge of the county. During this time he had also been a factor in 
the improvement of the city, having built the Yesler Way and the Jackson 
Cable Railroad, assisted by Mayor Metcalfe and others. At the close of his 
judicial term Judge Rochister entered into partnership with Colonel James 
H. Lewis, later a member of Congress, and with L. C. Oilman, under the 
farm name of Rochister, Lewis & Oilman. The}' soon gained a very' large 
and remunerative practice, ha\-ing, it is belie\'ed, the most extensive clientage 
in the city. 

Mr. Rochister was also much interested in the development of tlie mate- 
rial welfare of Seattle and to that work gave not a little of his attention. 
He was the founder of the suburlian town of Columbia, and built the street 
railway to Renton. _\ recognized leader in political circles, he served as chair- 
man at the city, county and state central Democratic committees, and was a 
member of the first commission that formed the city charter of Seattle. He 
was the fatlier of the Seattle city library, and regarded this as the most im- 
portant work that he accomplished. Certainly his memory deserves the grat- 
itude of the public for his efforts in this direction, as it affords the means of 
education to those who care to inform their minds concerning science, his- 
tory, biography, traveling and fiction. In 1S94 Judge Rochister's health 
failed and for several years he was an in\alid. l)Ut he recovered to some ex- 
tent and became again an active factor in the many and varied interests of 
Seattle. He was tendered his present piisition as one of the law professors 
in the University of Washington, which he held till his death. 

In 1 89 1 Mr. Rochister was happily married to Miss Carrie A. Rice, a 
native of Middleport, Meigs county, Ohio, and a descendant of good old 
Revolutionar}' stock. One of her great-great-uncles was private secretary to 
General Washington. She is a daughter of Captain James Rice, who won 
his title as commander of an Ohio river steamboat. Mr. and Mrs. Rochister 
were highly valued members of the Baptist church, in which he took a most 
active part, being one of the lay ministers. As a promoter and builder ofj 
Seattle he was very active, had erected numerous residences and brick blocks 
and also given his support to measures which have contributed in a large de- 
gree not only to the business life but to the intellectual and moral develop- 
mcn of the city. He had traveled extensively over the United States and 
had a number of times crossed the continent, gaining that culture and experi^ 
ence which only travel can bring. He was a man of scholarly attainments, 
of broad general information and moreover an honorable, upright gentleman 
who deserved the unqualified respect and confidence which he received from 
his fellow men. 



620 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

WILLIAM IJOVLK COLLI I'.K. 

There is probably no man in Sealtle wim has had a niorc \-aried career 
or has traveled more extensively than W'iliam LJoyle Collier, the present 
popular secretary of the Marine Engineers Beneficial Association No. 38, 
of this city. He first visited here in 1859, and has made this port his home 
since 1876. He was bom near Savannah, (jeortjia, in March, 1848. and is 
the only child of Henry DeWard and Caroline (DeW'itt) Collier. (_)n the 
paternal side his ancestors came to this country in the Mayflower and repre- 
sentatives of the family participated in the Re\olutionary war. The De- 
\Vitts were among" the earh- settlers of Florida. Our suliject's father was 
a native of Connecticut and was a .-eaf.arinL;' man. being" master of a ship in 
the foreign service, which made the ports of England. China and other coun- 
tries. His entire life from the time he was fourteen years of age was spent 
on the Axriter. and he was dnnvncd in Shanghai bay at the age of forty-nine 
years. 

During his boyhood William H. t'ollier attended the ])ublic schools of 
Hartford, (Connecticut, and a i>rivate school in New York cit)', and he also 
studied tindci" the direction <)f his father. His mother ha\ing died when he 
was only four years old, his early life was spent u))on the sea with his father 
except when attending school, b'or a time he was a student in English 
.schools at Hong Kong, China, and Calcutta, India. When the Civil war 
broke out, he retin"ned to the United States and for a time was in the recruit- 
ing" service for the Confederate army up till August, 1864. when he went to 
Australia and was engaged in newspaper work in that covmtry until his health 
failed, being connected with the Sidney ^lorning Herald an<l the Melbourne 
.\rgus. In 1868 he resumed a seafaring life in the ca]iacity of engineer and 
traveled all o\er the world, visiting nearlv e\erv imjjortant port. He was 
mostly in the merchant marine, but for a time was connected with the United 
States coast survey, which work he did not p;u"ticularly like. .Mr. Collier 
first came to Seattle in 1859, and subse(|uently dropped anchor in the Sound 
se\eral times before locating" here. Being attracted b\ the future prospects 
of the city he finally decided to make this place his permanent home and in 
1876 took up his residence here. l""or many years he was eng"ineer on boats 
running to San Francisco and Alaskan points, but two years ago retired 
from the \\ater and accepted his present responsible position as secretarv of 
the Marine Engineers Benelicial Association and also as business manager. 
The employment of all engineers is made through him, and he looks after 
the interests of the association in everv wa\". He not onlv attends to tiie 




#7^f^ 



^^-^^fi__(L^ 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 621 

i)usint'ss and linancial affair? of the f)rganization, Ijut also iooks after the 
families of absent members, which makes the position one of exceptional 
responsibility, btit most ably and satisfactorily does he discharge its arduous 
duties. On the rolls of the association there are about four hundred names 
and its members are scattered all over the world. Mr. Collier is also em- 
ployed as inspector of steam boilers and ele\ators. 

In 1875, i" Victoria, British Columbia, was celebrated his marriage to 
Miss .\nnie W'instrom, a daughter of Robert W'instrom of London. England, 
and to them ha\-e been born six children, as follows : Henry DeW^ard, now 
a.^sistant engineer in the empk)^• of the Pacilic Coast Steamship Company; 
Caroline, wife of \. Smith of Seattle: .\nnic. wife of James Lane, cashier 
in the ScandinaN'ian Bank of Seattle: William Libby. paying teller in the 
same establishment: Florence and Hazel, both at home. The family attend 
St. ]\iark's Episcopal church, and some of the children are members of its 
choir. Fraternally ■Mr. Collier is connected with the Ancient Order of 
L'uited Workmen. In politics he is independent, casting his ballot for the 
men he believes best qualified for office I'egardless of party affiliations. He 
is widely and favoralby known, and it is safe to say that there is no other 
man in Seattle who has more friends than \\ illiani H. Collier. 

JOHX F. SCHERTZER. 

The cit\' (if Seattle is peculiarly favored in having so read)- access to 
Lake Washingti^m, whose attractions as a summer resort cannot be excelled, 
and among those identified with maintaining excellent facilities for the ac- 
commodation of those who here seek rest and solace is the subject of this re- 
view, who has a pleasant home at Rainier Beach and has well equipped boat 
houses and the best of row and sail boats, which are in constant demand by a 
large number of ai^preciative patrons. Mr. Schertzer is one of the honored 
veterans of the war of the Rebellion and his life has been one of marked use- 
fulness and liiinor in all its relations, characterized by the same loyalty which 
prompted him in his youth to go forth in defense of the L'nion when its in- 
tegrity was menaced by armed rebellion. He has been a resident of the state 
of Washington since tiie nth of September. 1889, and has here been suc- 
cessful in his efforts and is one of the popular and highly honored citizens of 
King county. 

John F. Schertzer is a native of the old Buckeye state. lia\ing been born 
in the city of Columbus. Ohio, on the 24th of June, 1842, a son of John B. 
and Elizabeth ( Emerick) Schertzer. both of whom were born in Germany, 



622 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

wlicre their marriage was solemnized. Shorliy after tinis uniting tiieir life 
destinies they emigrated to the United States and settled in the capital city 
of Ohio, where the father was for a number of years engaged in the work of 
his trade, that of tailor. Later he purchased a farm in that state and became 
one of the successful agriculturists of his section. He died in the year 1888, 
at the age of sixty-eight years, but his wife lived to the age of seventy-seven. 
They were people of the most sterling character, honored by all who knew 
them, and were devoted members of the Methodist Episcopal church. Of 
their six childrai four are yet living, the subject of this sketch being the 
only representative of the family in Washington. 

Mr. Schertzer received excellent educational advantages in his early 
years, having attended the public schools of his native city, and he was but 
nineteen years and fifteen days of age when he showed his intrinsic loyalty 
and patriotism by volunteering for service in the defense of his country, en- 
listing as a private in Company A, Sixth Michigan Volunteer Cavalry, with 
which he served under General Sheridan in the Army of the Potomac, par- 
ticipating in eight of the notable battles of the great civil conflict and being 
known as a faithful and valiant soldier, ever at the jxjst of duty, and after 
the close of the war he took part in the grand review of the victorious armies 
in the city of Washington, receiving his honorable discharge on the loth of 
October, 1865. In the battle of South Mountain a bullet penetrated a small 
testament which he had placed in his breast pocket, thus saving him frum a 
serious if not fatal wound, and in the battle of Gettysburg a ball lodged in 
his saddle, having barely missed his thigh. The heavy discharge of artillery 
and the general din of battle slightly impaired the hearing of Mr. Schertzer, 
and he has never entirely recovered. 

.\fter his discharge from the ser\ice Mr. Schertzer rciurncd to his home 
arid turned his attentinn to learning the carpenter trade, becoming a skilled 
mechanic. He renio\cd to the state of Minnesota and was there promin- 
ently engaged in contracting and building in Minneapolis and other parts of 
the state for a number of years. He took up a tract of one hundred and sixty 
acres of land in Rock county, erected a good residence on the place and made 
good improvements otherwise. A prairie fire finally destroyed his home and 
literally devastated his farm, everything being lost except his carpenter tools. 
He provided another dwelling and left his family on the place, while he re- 
sumed work at his trade in order to retrieve his fortunes. Later he disposed 
of his farm and returned to the city of Minneapolis, where he gave his atten- 
tion to contracting and building until the death of his father, when the estate 
was divided and he returned to Marion county, Ohio, and took possession of 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 623 

tlie property allotted to hiin. Upon his portion of the homestead farm he 
erected a residence and remained there until the fall of 1888, when he came 
to Washington for the purpose of personally investigating the attractions 
and prospects of this section of the Union. He was employed for a short 
time in Seattle and then returned to Ohio and disposed of his property, after 
which he came through to Washington in company with his family. Upon 
coming to Seattle he purchaseil property and erected a comfortable residence, 
and here found ready demand for his services as a carpenter and builder. 
Finally he turned his attention to the building of pleasure boats for use un 
Lake Washington, having inaugurated this enterprise at Lester Park, where 
he remained two years, meeting with excellent success. In 1892 Mr. Schert- 
zer came U> his ])resent location, at Rainier Beach, in which delightful local- 
ity he purchased several lots, erecting a good residence and several boat- 
houses and constructing a large number of fine boats which he rents to pa- 
trons of this favorite resort. He makes a very handsome model row-boat 
and also sailing' boats, and as the lake is some fifteen miles in length and one 
of the most beautiful in this section he receives a large patronage, giving his 
entire attention to the improvement and keeping up his handsome property 
and providing for the wants of those who come to the lake for periods of rest 
and recreation. 

In politics Mr. Schertzer has ever been a stanch advocate of the princi- 
ples and policies of the Republican party, and fraternally he is identified with 
the Grand Army of the Rqiublic, being an honored comrade of Stephens 
Post in Seattle. He was for three years incumbent of the office of town clerk 
and for a number of years justice of the peace in his home town in Minnesota. 
In the year 1869 Mr. Schertzer was united in marriage to Miss Lydia Blas- 
dell, who was born in Canada, and they have four children, namely: Frank 
E., who is engaged in mining in Alaska; Jennie B., who remains at the par- 
ental home: and George A. and William J., who are engaged in boat-building 
at Madrone Park. 

JOHN R. COMPTON. 

John R. Compton is the foreman of the Westerman Iron ^Vorks, thus 
occupying an important and responsible position as a representative of the 
industrial interests of Seattle. He was born in Lebanon. Oregon, May 12, 
1876, and is a son of Oliver and Harriet (Ray) Compton, both of whom 
were natives of Missouri. They came to Seattle when the subject of this re- 
view was fourteen years of age, and John R. Compton completed the liigh 



624 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

school course in this city, beginning' his Ijusiness career in llie Westerniau 
Iron Works in 189J, in the capacity n{ a lielper. He served liis apprentice- 
ship in tlie forging department and with the exception ol one year, from July, 
1897, until August, iSycS, he has since remained with the company as one of 
its most trusted and faithful representatives. In August. 1898, Mr. Coni])- 
ton returned to the W'esterman Iron Works as manager of the forge depart- 
ment and in 1900 was advanced to the position of superintendent of the works, 
having entire charge of all the forging. This company makes a specialty of 
heavy forging and executes large orders f(ir car works and other extensive 
concerns. One order u>y car whecN and iri_)n work for four hundred cars 
by the White I'ass and Yukon Raihoad Company was satisfactorily com- 
pleted under the direction of .Mr. C'onipton, who gives his entire attention to 
the business. 1 le understands the work in all its departments, and his prac- 
tical knowledge enables him to carefully ilirecl the labors of those who serve 
under him, while he is always just and fair in his treatment of employes, and 
has their entire confidence and respect. He has due regard for his duties to 
the company which he represents, and his labors ha\'e been profitable to the 
house as well as a source of good income to himself. 

On the 20th of September. 1899, occurred the marriage of Mr. Comp- 
ton and Miss Sadie B. Seckels. a daughter of D. K. and Alice Seckels. In 
politics he is a stanch Republican and fraternally is connected w^ith the Be- 
nevolent and Protective Order of hLlks and the Woodmen of the ^\'orId. A 
young Inisiness man. unassuming and unpretentious, he has. nevertheless, 
won the respect and contidence of those with whom he has been associated in 
business relations and has gained the warm friendship of many with whom 
he has cotuc in contact. 

RUFL'S \\TLL.\RD, M. D. 

Among the most successful ])hysicians and surgeons of the city of Seat- 
tle is numbered Rufus Willard, who has made his home here since Decem- 
ber, 1880, and has been a resident of the state for fifty years. He stands 
high in the estimation of his professi(jnal brethren, and his opinions have 
great weight in thir councils. The first of the Willard family to establish 
a home in .^merica was Simon \\'illard. who came to this country from Eng- 
land just sixteen years after the landing of the Mayflower and was one of 
the founders of Concord, Mas.sachusetts. He purchased land of the Indians, 
and was major in the colonial troops of Massachusetts. He became the 
father of sixteen childix'n. foiu-teen .sons and two daughters. The paternal 




/cLvk>c-i uBiJUL<^i/rT9(. Ihu ^ 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 625 

great-graixl father of our suljject, Rufiis W'illanl. was a soldier in the Revo- 
lutionary war, and was a farmer by occupatiim. while the grandfather of our 
subject, also named Rufus, was a soldier in the war of 1812. Dr. G. K. 
Willard. the father of hiin whose name introduces this review, removed 
.from New York to Illinois, and in the latter commonwealth was engaged in 
the practice of medicine until 1852, in which year he crossed the plains to 
Washington, taking up his abode in Olympia. where he followed his chosen 
calling until his death in 1S66. He received his education principally in tlie 
Empire state, and was also a graduate of the Transylvania University of 
Lexington, Kentucky, b'or his wife he chose ]\Iiss Eleanor D. Smith, and 
they became the parents of seven children. 

Rufus Willard was born in Coles county. Illinois April i-j. 1836, and 
there attended the public schools until he accompanied the family on their 
journey across the plains, being at that time seventeen years of ag"e. The 
trip was made with ox teams, and during the journey they were tired upon 
by the Indians several times, and frequently their stock was stampeded, but 
their destination was finally reached without any serious trouble. During 
their first winter here the family made their home in Vancouver, on the 
Columbia river, and in the following spring they came to the Sound country. 
Soon after his arrival here Mr. Willard became interested in the drug busi- 
ness at Olympia, where he remained for se\eral \ears. He then returned to 
the Empire state. \ia the Isthmus route, and after his arrival there he entered 
the l-niversity of New York, in which institution he was graduated in 1861, 
being the first to complete the course there from the territory of Washington. 
Returning to Olympia, Washington, he there made his home for the follow- 
ing thirteen years, after which he again went to New York, and in March, 
1874, was graduated from the Bellevue Hospital Medical College. After 
two years spent in his western home he for the third time returned to the 
east and this time continued the journey to Europe, where he passed the ex- 
amination of the Royal College of Surgeons, of Edinburg, graduating there- 
in as a licentiate in 1876. He was also elected to and received the fellowship 
degree of the Roval College of Stu'geons. being the lirst non-resident of Eng- 
land to ever receive that honor. He has taken several post-graduate courses 
in both Chicago and New York, and has e\er kept abreast of the times in his 
profession. In the spring of 1877 he was elected to take charge of the State 
Insane Asylum, as medical superintendent, at Steilacoom, which position he 
continued to fill for four years. The year 1880 witnessed his arrival in 
Seattle, since which time he has been numbered among its leading medical 
practitioners, and from the time of his arrival for fourteen vears he was 



626 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

medical superintendent of the Providence Hospital. He now gives liis en- 
tire time to his prixate practice and has bnilt up a large and lucrative pat- 
ronage. 

At Olympia, in 1858, the Doctor was united in marriage to Sarah J. 
Fletcher, who came to this state in 1850. Six children have been born of 
this marriage, but one died when young, and four still survi\e: Francis 
Mott, of Seattle; Julia Eleanor Ross; Mrs. Annie Hines, also of this city; 
and I\Irs. Carrie M. Goode of Idaho. Dr. Willard gives his political support 
to the Republican party, and religiously he is an active member of the Metho- 
dist Episcopal church, in which he served as a lay delegate to the general 
conference at Baltimore in 1876, and again at Cleveland in 1896. He has 
held many of the offices in his home church, and is also an active Sunday- 
school worker. In his social relations he is a worthy member of the IMasonic 
fraternity, in which he has attained to the thirty-second degree in the Scot- 
tish Rite. He is also a member of the county and state medical societies. 
He is not only thoroughl}* versed in his profession but is also well informed 
along other lines, and from the faithful performance of each day's duty he 
gains inspiration and encouragement for the labors of the next. Pleasant 
and agreeable in manner, his cheery disposition as well as his medical treat- 
ment of patients is a potent element in his .success and makes him a favorite 
with all with whom he comes in contact. 

JAMES H. NEWELL. 

James H. Xewell, one of the representative business men of Seattle and 
an honored veteran of the Civil war, residing at 4828 Twenty-third avenue, 
west, was born in \\'aynesburg. Greene county, Pennsyl\-ania, November jj 
1845, his parents being John Newell and a Miss Dailey, also natives of the 
old Keystone state. His paternal grandfather. James H. Newell, was born 
in the north of Ireland, and on coming to the new world settled in Pennsyl- 
\;uiia. where he married Miss Sarah Britt. He was reared in the Protestant 
faith and became a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. The father 
of our subject was a marine engineer by occupation. At a very early day, 
about T836, he removed to Illinois, becoming one of the pioneers of Bureau 
county, but afterward returned to Pennsylvania, where he was living at the 
outbreak of the war of the Rebellion. He entered the service at the first call 
for troops and was killed at Clear Creek, Mississippi, on the loth of June, 
i86,v He left fnur children, of whom our subject was the eldest, the others 
being Sarah, unw the wife of Frank X. Phillips, of Kansas; Louisa, who died 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 627 

unmarried; and William, a resident of Tampico, Whiteside county, Illinois. 

James H. Newell was only eighteen years of age wlien he became the 
head of the family because of his father's death, and he then took charge of 
affairs, but feeling that his country needed his services he enlisted, January 
25. 1864, as a member of Company I, Sixty-fourth Illinois Volunteer Infan- 
tr}-, though but little over eighteen years of age. He participated in the At- 
lanta campaign and siege, being under fire almost continuously for ninety- 
•seven davs. and as a sharpshooter was under General Sherman from Atlanta 
to the sea. For six weeks during his service he was confined in the ]\Iount 
Pleasant hospital and at the close of the war was honrirably discharged, June 
29. 1865. with the rank of first corporal. 

Returning to his home in Bureau county, Illinois. iNIr. Xewell engaged in 
farming there for one year, and in 1866 went to Kansas, and pin-chased lanci 
in Johnson county. While residing there he engaged in various occupations, 
devoting a part of his time to carpenter work. In the fall of 1868 he re 
tumed to Illinois and resumed farming. On the 29th of October, that year, 
he was united in marriage to Miss Rosella Warren, a daughter of John and 
Mary ( McXitt ) Warren, and to them have been born three sons, all of 
whom now occujiy responsible positions, Frank H. being keeper of Kinnear 
Park; Harry R. is with the California Commission Company: and Fred L., 
for some time in the employ of the Great Northern Railroad Company, is 
now engaged in the theatrical line with the Willson Juvenile ^Minstrel Com- 
pany as property man. 

After his marriage Mr. Newell removed from Bureau county to Rock 
Island, Illinois, and later to W^hiteside county, that state, where he worked 
at the carpenter's trade, later following the same occupation at Clinton, Iowa, 
for some time. He also filled the position of collector for the transfer com 
jjany of that city. It was on the 21st of June. 1889. that he first came to Se- 
attle, wliere for one year he was engaged in carpenter work, and then re- 
moved to Olympia, where he bought property, and remained one year work- 
ing at his trade. On selling out there he moved to Salem. Oregon, but after 
a month passed at that place he returned to Seattle, locating on Second ave- 
nue, where he made his home a short time while engaged in contracting and 
building. He next bought a ranch in Kitsap county. Washington, but after 
one winter spent there he again took up his residence in Seattle, locating at 
Interbay. where he now lives. He established a milk route and for a time 
engaged in the dairy business, making- the manufacture of butter the mair 
feature nf his' business. He became one of the organizers of the Interbav 
Improvement ('lub, of which he is now \ice president, and as a pnblic-s])irited 



62 8 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

aiul progressive citizen he lias taken (|uile an acti\e and iMnniinent part in 
the development and upbuilding of his a<lopted city, l-'or the past four years 
he has given his attention to the real estate business and contract building, 
and is meeting with excellent success. In lyoi he erected his own comfort- 
able residence, and besides this owns another residence in Interbay. 

In his political views Mr. Newell is an ardent [democrat and has been an 
active worker for the principles of his party, but has never been an aspirant 
for political honors, preferring to devote his undivided attention to his busi- 
ness interests. Fraternally he is an honored menil)er of the (Irand .\rmy post 
of Seattle and has filled various ol^ces in the order. He is widely and fav- 
orably known and well merits the conlidencc reposed in him 1)\- his fellow 
citizens. 

JAMES WILLIAMS. 

Such was the standing attained \>v the subject of this memoir in ccjnnec- 
tion with the development of the industrial activities of the state, such his 
prestige in the line of his profession as a cixil and mining engineer, and such 
the esteem which he commanded 1)y reason of his honorable life and sterling" 
character, that it is in justice due that he be accorded distinctive recognition 
ir. this compilation. In his death King county lost a \aluable and worthy 
citizen, while in the attractive village of Renton, where he long maintained 
his home, the community felt a sense of personal ])ereavement when he was 
thus called to his reward, after a life i>f earnest endeavor and unswerving 
honor in all its relations. 

James Williams was Ijorn in Staffordshire, England, on the yth of 
April, 184C1. coming of stanch old English stock on both sides. He was 
reared and educated in his native land, where he received ;i most thorough 
technical training as a ci\ il and mining engineer, the profession to whose 
practical work he devoted his attention during the years of his active career. 
In 1868, shortly after attaining his legal majority, Air. Williams left his na 
five land and came to Aiuerica, believing that in the L'nited States would be 
found wider opportunities for eft'ective and successful work in the line of 
the profession for which he had fitted himself. He first secured employment 
in connection with the coal-mining industry in the state of Pennsylvania, and 
a few years later his services were enlisted by the L^nion Pacific Mining Com- 
pany at Laramie, Wyoming, where he held a responsible position for sev- 
eral years. In 1873 Mr. Williams came to Renton, King coMuty, Washing- 
ton, and entered the cmplox- of the Oregon Improvement Company, and had 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 629 

cliarj^e of the mines at this point and also at Newcastle from the year men- 
tioned until 1883. He finallj', in the year last mentioned, was compelled to 
resign his active labors, having become a great sufferer from rheumatic trou- 
bles, and he thereafter lived practically retired until his death, which occurred 
on the 17th of January, igoo. He was prominently concerned in the devel- 
opment of many of the mines in this section, including the celebrated Cedar 
Mountain coal mine in King county, and he gained the highest reputation in 
the line of his profession. Mr. Williams was a man of exemplary habits, of 
the highest business integrity, was a good citizen and a loving and indulgent 
husband and father, being signally true in all the relations of life and com- 
manding unqualified confidence and esteem on the part of all who knew him. 
Tn politics he exercised his franchise in support of the principles and policies 
of the Republican party, and his religious faith was that of the Protestant 
Episcopal church, of which he was a communicant and a de\-oted churchman. 
Fraternally he was prominently identified with the time-honored order of Free 
and Accepted ^lasons. ha\-ing held membership in St. Andrew's Lodge No. 
35. in Renton. 

Mr. Williams had crossed the Atlantic on four different occasions, and 
at one time he was there united in marriage to Miss Lizzie P. Black. Mrs. 
Williams was born in Walsall, Staffordshire, England, and soon offer her 
marriage she accompanied her husband on his return to the L'nited States. 
They became the parents of seven children, of whom five are living at the 
present time, namely : Gertrude, who is the wife of Arthur E. Raymond, ol 
Renton; Sidney J., of whom more specific mention will be made in following 
paragraphs; Arthur E.. who is attending school; Florence, who remains with 
her mother, being a graduate of Whitworth College; and Edith M., who like- 
wise remains with her mother. All are communicants of the Protestant 
Episcopal church and the family is one which has occupied a ]jrominent posi- 
tion in the best social life of the communitv. 

Sidney J. Williams, through whose courtesy was secured the data for 
this brief memoir of his honored father, is a native of King county, having 
l)een born in the town of Renton, which is still the family home, on the loth 
of .\|)ril, 1877. In his home town he received his preliminary educational 
discipline in the public schools, anil in the Washington State University he 
took both the literary and law courses and was graduated in the law depart- 
ment ,is a meml)er of the class of 1901, being admitted to the bar of the state 
Du the (>th of June, of that year. He is now established in the practice of his 
chosen profession in the city of Seattle, the firm name being Blake & Will- 
iams. He is thoroughly flevoted to his ])rofession. is a close student, and 



630 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

careful and conservative in his niclhoils. As soon as he altainetl his legal 
majority Mr. Williams sent in his application for membership in the Masonic 
lodge, with which his father had been so prominently identified, and in due 
time he received the fellowcratt degrees in St. Andrew's Lodge No. 35, Free 
and Accepted Masons, of Renton. being there raised to the degree of Master 
Mason. Of this lodge he has filled the ofiice of secretary, and he is also iden- 
tified with the Knights of Pythias and the Independent Order of Odd Fel- 
lows, being in the latter past noble grand of the lodge at Renton. While he 
is a stanch Republican in his political proclivities, Mr. Williams realizes that 
the law is a jealous mistress and demands an undivided devotion on the part 
of those who aim to achieve success in the profession, and thus he has no 
wish to become active in the field of politics. 

FRANK TURNER. 

Frank Turner is a retail flealer in meat, and is also engaged in the ship- 
ping business ii: this line, at AuIjiumi. Jle was born in New York city, April 
9, 1859. His father, Gilbert Tinner, was Ijorn at Tiu'ner, Orange county. 
New York, about 1832. That ])lace was named in honor of the family, 
which had been established there at an earh- day. For many years the father 
of oiu' subject was an active and prominent business man of that section and 
owns there three large farms, also conducts a hotel and in other ways is in- 
terested in the improvement and commercial activity of the district. He is 
a large producer of live stock and of dairy products, and for many years has 
supplied the W'est Point military ])ost with meat and dairy products, his place 
being located only about eight miles from the noted military academy. Mr. 
Turner was united in marriage t<> Aliss Alartha Pollard, who was born in 
New York ciu- aboni i(S4o, ;ni(l is a daughter of Willett Pollard, who was 
captain of one of the Cunard line steamers for many years and was afterward 
engaged in stevedoring on East river. The parents of our subject were mar- 
ried at Turner and are still living in the old home there. 

At the usual age Frank Turner beg^an his education in the commor 
schools of Orange county, and then entered the Chester Academy at Chester) 
New York. On leaving school at the age of twenty years he became em- 
ployed in the old Washington market in New "S'ork, where he remained for 
two years. Throughout his entire life he has been connected with the meat 
business. About 1883 he went to Medora. South Dakota, and was asso- 
ciated with Marquis De Mora, and TheocUire Roosevelt, now the president of 
the United States, in the conduct of a cold storage plant at that place. After 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 631 

one vear in this business Mr. i'urner went to Minneapolis, wliere for two 
years he had charge of the Minneapohs Transfer Packing Company, and on 
the expiration of that period he went to Chicago, where he was employed in 
Armour's packing house for a year. In 1890 he arrived in Washingtoi 
settling in Tacoma, where for a year he was engaged in canning fish at Mu- 
kilteo, where he rented a cannery. The following year he was in the butch- 
ering business at Snohomish, and then was with the Puget Sound Dressed 
Beef and Packing Company at Seattle. Later he located at Kent, Washing- 
ton, where he entered into partnership with William Horlock, conducting a 
new 1)Utchering business, this relation being maintained for about four years 
In 1896 Mr. Turner came to Auburn and purchased the butchering business 
of the Pauly Brothers, and Auburn has since been his home. He has a 
fort}-acre farm near the town, \Yhere he keeps his stock and has a large 
slaughter-house. He now enjoys an extensive local trade and also does a 
shipping business. 

Mr. Turner belongs to Perseverance Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, 
New York city, and to the Knights of Pythias fraternity of Auburn. In pol- 
itics he is a Republican and at the last election cast his ballot for Theodore 
Roosevelt, his former associate and partner, for vice president. He does not 
find the time or desire for oi¥ice, however, preferring to devote his attention 
exclusively to his Iiusiness affairs, in which he is now meeting with signal 
success. 

MRS. J. F. T. ]\IITCHELL. 

In acknowledging the indebtedness of the public to the pioneers whc 
settled upon the frontier of the northwest, one should not forget that an im- 
portant ])art in the work of development and progress has been carried on by 
the ]ii()neer women. Their lives, of a more quiet character, have perhaps not 
brought them into so great public notice, but their influence and work have 
been none the less potent. Mrs.' Mitchell came to Seattle when it was but a 
mere hamlet in the midst of the woods, and during' more than four decades 
has lived in this city, taking an active interest in the well-being and progress 
of Seattle. 

Mrs. Margaret Judith (Jacklin) Mitchell was born on the 13th of 
March, 1854, in Galena, Illinois, the town of the famous soldier and presi- 
dent General L^. S. Grant. She is a daughter of Daniel Jacklin, a native oi 
England, whose ancestors have long resided in that country, and who were 
originally descendants of the Jacquelins of France. The father of Mrs, 



632 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

Mitcliell emigrated to the United States when a young man and was nian-ie<' 
in Oslikosh. Wisconsin, tt) Miss Grace Brooks Grannan, a lady of Irish birth 
and ancestry, who. however, was reared in Canada. With his wife and fam- 
ily of four children he crossed the plains in i860 to San Francisco, and 
thence came to Seattle to engage in the lumber business with Iiis brother-in- 
law. Walter Eawrence (irannan. wlm had come to the northwest in 185J. and 
who became one of the prominent and prosperous pioneer lumbermen and 
shipbuilders nf the i'uget Sound country. Mr. (irannan shipped the first 
cargo n\ lumber nut oi this district and built u\) a very large lumljer indus- 
try .It I'ls.daddy. lie was married in San Francisco to Mrs. Elizabeth Hale, 
and four years later his death occurred. Thus passed away one of the nobk 
pioneer men of the territory of \\'ashington, one whose efforts and lab<irs 
were of marked value in promoting' the early development of this section of 
the ruuulry. .Mrs. Mitchell's father was his partner up to the time of his 
death and was interested with him in all his enterprises, accjuiring a consid- 
eral)le fortune through their business operations. At length he retired from 
business and renioxed to the east, passing away in 1870 at the age of forty- 
nine years. His gcmd wife sur\aved him and returned to Seattle, where she 
resirled until iSgi. when in the seventy-sixth year of her age she was called 
to her hnal rest. Their children were Frances Elizabeth, Margaret Judith, 
William Brooks and .\ngeline Burdette Coutts. The mother was a devoted 
Roman Catholic and the father a member of the Episcopal church. The 
children were educated at home under the in.struction of a governess and 
tutor. This means nf education was somewhat unusual in the pioneer days 
in the .Sound country. I-'rances Elizabeth became the wife of Captain .\lbert 
Nicholas and is now a widow residing in Seattle. She has three children. 
.\ngeline P.. Cmuts became the wife of the Hon. Jolin Collins, of Seattle, and 
has four children. 

Margaret Judith, whose name introduces this record, married C.aptain 
J. I'. T. Mitchell, who was the pioneer .shipbuilder and marine architect of 
the Puget Sound country. He was educated in Scotland, becoming a shi]) 
builder, and in iXfij came to Utsaladdy. Ten years later he established the 
first ship-building plant in the I'uget Sound c<inntry at Seattle. He contin- 
ued in the business until 1898, at which time he weiu north to superinten(; 
the completion of a large contract. While on his way. on the i8th of June. 
i8g8, he de])arted this life, dying of heart disease. He was a citizen of a 
very excellent reput:ition. His sterling worth and splendid characteristics 
won for him the high regard of all with whom he came in contact. He was 
al.so a thirtv-second degree Mason. The loss to his family and tn the conn- 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 633 

try was a very great one, for in the household he was a devoted husband and 
father and as a citizen was pubHc spirited and progressive, interested in all 
that pertained to the general welfare. 

To Mr. and Airs. Mitchell were born six children: Grace Elizabeth, 
Alexander, Merdes. Lettie. Anastasia and Wendell \V.. all of whom were 
bom in Seattle. They became students in the schools of this city and in the 
state university. Grace Elizabeth was the first native daughter of Wash- 
ington to graduate from the law department of that institution, completing 
the course with the class of 1902, since which tinie she has been admitted 
to the bar. 

At her husband's death Mrs. Mitchell was left in possession of a good 
property. She and her children have an elegant and commodious home at 
414 Boylston avenue. Mrs. Mitchell was made administratrix of her hus- 
band's pro]ierty and is conducting the business with marked ability. She is 
a member of the Pioneer Society of the state, is one of its trustees and she 
had the honor of being the first president of the Woman's Federation of 
Clubs in the city. She and her accomplished daughters are held in very high 
esteem by a wide circle of friends in the city in which she has so long resided 
and in which tlie\' were born. 

JAMES A. BUNCE. 

One of the most distinguished and prominent residents of Seattle is 
James A. Bunce, whose extensive business interests, active political work and 
marked enterprise have made him an eminent factor of the northwest. He 
has been and is distinctively a man of affairs and one who has wielded a 
wide influence. A strong mentality, an invincible courage, a most deter- 
mined individuality have so entered into this makeup as to render him a nat- 
ural leader of men and a director of opinion. 

Mr. Bunce was born in Chatham, Ontario, Canada, February 8, 1854, 
during a temporary sojourn of his parents in that state. His paternal grand- 
father, James A. Bunce, was a native of New York and a pioneer of Illinois, 
going to Freeport, that state, at an early day. There he followed his trade of 
blacksmithing. making his home in Freeport until called to his final rest. 
The parents of our subject were Jacob B. and Melissa L. (Mitchell) Bunce. 
Tlie father, a native of the Empire state, was born in 1820, and the mother 
was :> native of Indiana. In early life he learned the blacksmith's trade 
under the direction of his father and for a number of years followed that 
pursuit in Freeport. Illinois, but (in account of an accident, which resulted in 



634 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

a l)R)keii leg. lie was oblit^eil in yi\e up work at his ira<le. ami in coiisec|ucnce 
turned his attention to railmad contract work, which lie carried on exten- 
si\'el\' for several years. In 1S53 lie went to Canada to execute some rail- 
road contracting there and later returned to Freeport. Illinois, but remainc; 
less than a year at that time. Removing to Olmsted county, Minnesota, 
he was there engaged in general merchandising and trading, handling grain 
and other products of the farm. He lived in a tent until a log cabin could 
be built, alter which lu- made that primiti\'e dwelling his home for seven 
or eight _\ears. In the meantime the country settled up rapidly, his busi- 
ness proportionately increased and he then replaced his log cabin by a line 
brick residence. He was one of the leading citizens in business and social 
matters in tliat ])art of the slate and contributed in large measure to ])uljlic 
progress and improvement. A ])ronounced Repuljlican in politics, he never 
sought or desired office, although he labored most earnestly for his party's 
success. lie remained in active business life up to the time of his death, 
which occurred in 1883. He was very successful in his mercantile inter- 
ests, and was thus enabled t<i i)rovidc a comfortable home for his family. 
Religiously he was connected with the Christian church, becoming one oi 
the early followers of the doctrines preached by .\le.\-andcr Campbell. I'^ra- 
ternally he was connected with the Independent Order of Odd b'ellows an<l 
was prominent and acti\'e in its work. His wife died October 17, 1871. In the 
family were seven children: Lncretia is the wife of J. j. McDonald, painter 
of Seattle: George W. is a resident of Maiikato. Minnesota, and has been 
upon the road for twenty years as a traveling salesman: Huldah F". is the 
wife of a prominent grain dealer of the state, who served for many years 
as state grain inspector: James A. is the ne.xt of the family: Edgar J. is 
a tra\'e!ing salesman residing at Redwood Falls, Minnesota; Mary .\dclaide 
is the wife of A. A. Robinson, a painter of Seattle: and Maude E. is the 
deceased wife of Albert S. I'ord. for many years a journalist of Spok.ane. 

James A. Bunce was only a year old when his parents removed to the 
frontier of Minnesota, where he was reared to manhood amid the condi- 
tions of pioneer life. He pursued his education in the public schools, at- 
tending the high school of Rochester, Minnesota, and after completing his 
course assisted his father in the store and in other business affairs, includ- 
ing the supervision of his father's extensive laiuled interests. He remained 
at home until twenty-six years of age. l'"rom the time he was thirteen years 
of age he was allowed to trade for himself, and he worked on the farm 
during the summer months and in the store through llic winter se:isons. 
I'Vom the time that he was eighteen years of age be owned certain lines 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 635 

of goods in the store, dealing in these strictly on his uwn account. He 
in\ested his earnings in other goods and commodities and when his father 
rcni<i\ed to another i)art of the state Mr. Bunce became sole proprietor of 
the business, which he carried on until 1881, carrying the best stock of 
fancy goods in the town. In that year, however, he lost all by tire and 
found himself forty dollars in deljt, because he had no insurance upon the 
store. He went then to Braiuard, Minnesota, and accepted a position as 
night agent for the Northern Pacitic Express Company, which position 
he held for a year, when he established a livery business and began trading 
in horses, for which he had ahvays had a special fondness, being an ex- 
cellent judge of a fine animal. He continued his buying and selling, ship- 
ping draft horses to ^Minneapolis. He also dealt and traded in farm pro- 
duce. 

In 188,^ Mr. Bunce removed to Minneapolis, where he conducted a 
liver\- stable and also bought and sold horses, remaining there for five years 
during wdiich time he made over fifty thousand dollars. In 1S88 he re- 
moved to Spokane, Washington, wdiere for a short time he A\as connected 
with the Northern Pacific Express Company, but again turned his atten- 
tion- to horse dealing. In 1895 he came to Seattle, having in the meantime 
suffered financial reverses, but w'ith strong courage and a determination to 
retrieve his lost possessions he accepted a position in a lumber yard, where 
he remained for some time. He next turned his attention to contracting 
and building, which he has since folldwed, being alone until igoi, when 
he admitted his son-in-law, Walter H. Johnston to a partnership under 
the firm style of the B. & J. Contracting Company, general contractors and 
builders. Air. ]junce has erected manv fine residences in Seattle, including 
.some of the most beautiful hnmes here. He has done much conduit work 
for the Denny Ice Company, building conduits for underground wires and 
heating. He has also done a large amount of concrete work in building 
walls and conduits, and the business of the firm is now extensive and im- 
pi>rtant, the company ranking among the most prominent in their line > 
Ijusiness in the city. 

In 1899. iiecause of his especial fitness, Mr. Bunce was a])]iointed city 
inspector of streets and sewers. ha\ing undci' his sui)er\isiiin the construc- 
tion of streets, sewers, grading and pa\ing. Reared in the faith of the 
Republican party, since i8y6 he has gi\-en his support to the free-silver 
branch of the party, and he is to-da_\- one of the most prominent and intlu- 
enlial members of the part\- in the state. b\*w men are more wideh' known 
in political circles of the northwest than he. lie has re})resentcd the city 



636 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

in state and national conventions, was a deiejjate to tiie national conven- 
tion in Kansas City in 1900, and at that time was elected a member of the 
national committee for the state of Washington. [\q is most active and 
influential in campaign work, was elected one of fi\e to do campaign work- 
in doubtfid states and spent the fall of 1900 in sue!) work in various states. 
During the years 1894-5 he was in the government secret service depart- 
ment. He served with distinction and received letters of the highest praise 
in recognition of liis work. Jn 1902 he was one of the deputies who took a 
prominent i^art in the chase for the notorious Harry Tracy, and with his 
son, Fred C. Bunce, followed him for several days and nights through the 
dense woods of King county, exchanging shots with him in the dark, at 
whicli time he would undoubtedly have captured him had he been certain 
of the identitv of the man. F'ear is unknown to him, and he never hesi- 
tates for ;in instant in the ])crformance of his (lut\- in the government ser- 
vice. He is a splendid athlete, has mastered the science, and frequently gi\es 
lessons therin. W'hile in Minnesota he served for thirteen years as a mem- 
ber of the fire department and for three years as chief of the department 
of P.rainard, while through the remaining years he was connected with 
the dc])artment at Rochester. 

-Mr. Bimce was reared in the Baptist church, Ijut became a member of 
tlie Congregational church. F'raternally he is connected with the Ameri- 
can I'nion and has taken an acti\e part in the American Protective .Associa- 
tion. Fie was largely instrumental in organizing the .Vmerican L'nion, of 
which he was chosen the general commander for the L'nited States and has 
since held the office. This organization was effected in the city of Seattle. 
its purpose being of a patriotic nature, to preserve American institutions 
and rights, and it has become an order of national imixirtance. 

In St. Paul. Minnesota, in September, 1875, Mr. liunce was married to 
Miss Henrietta L. Newton, a daughter of Ezra and ^Martha Thayer (Pat- 
ton) Newton. She was born in Kingston, New Hampshire, and in early 
life accompanied her ])arents to [Minnesota, where she remained imtil com- 
ing to W^ashington. She has been a faithful hel])mate to her husband, and 
has a large circle of acquaintances here. Nine children were born to Mr. 
and Mrs, Bunce: Nellie M. is the wife of W. 11. Johnston, a memljer 
of the B. & J. Contracting Company; Frederick C. wiio is one of the skilled 
civil engineers of the state, now employed in tlie county surveyor's office : 
Ezra N,, an electrical engineer; Henry C, who died at the age of eleven 
years; Jim, who died at the age of eight years; Martha M. and Charles 
I)., at home; and two who died in infancy. Mr. i'.nnce erected an elegant 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 637 

residence on Queen Anne Hill in 1897, and there the family reside in one 
of the most attractive homes of the cit}-, supplied with all the adornments 
that wealth, guided by rehned taste, can secure. Always a lover of the 
noble steed, Mr. Bunce has owned some very fine horses and now keeps 
a blooded team of roadsters. His has been an eventful career. Born in 
Canada, reared upon the frontier, suffering loss through fire and in other 
ways, yet (jvercoming all obstacles by determined and resolute purpose, he 
stands to-day among the successful business men of this great northwest, 
a leader in the political world and a man of marked influence in the city 
which he has chosen as his place of residence. 

JOHN MEGRATH. 

Prominenllv connected with the building interests of Seattle, John Me- 
grath has resided in this cit}' since 1883. He is a native of Belfast, Ire- 
land, where his birth occurred May 27, 1850. He comes of a family of 
Scotch-Irish ancestry, his parents being John and Elizabeth ( Katherwood) 
j\Iegrath, both of whom were natives of the Emerald Isle. The father 
was a contractor and builder, performing his full share of the work along 
building lines in all the places of his residence. Both he and his wife were 
^■alued and loyal members of the Presbyterian church, and in that faith 
passed away. The father departed this life at the age of sixty years, and 
his wife was called to her final rest in the fifty-se\'enth }ear of her age, 
both being buried in the cemetery near Belfast. They were the parents of 
nine children, of whom five are yet living. One of the sons, Alexander 
Megrath, is filling the office of timekeeper for his brother in Seattle. 

John Megrath ]jursued his education in the schools of his native city 
and afterward learned the bricklayer's trade there, but believing that the 
liiisiness opportunities of the new world were superior to those of the old 
world he determined to seek his home in America and accoi'dingly crossed 
the Atlantic to the United States in 1872. He first located in Chicago, 
where he remained for fourteen months, but attracted to the Pacific coast, 
he made his way to San Francisco, California, in 1873. There he worked 
at his trade until 1883, at which time he came to Seattle, and since then 
has been continuously engaged in ci)ntracting and building in the city. 
He has erected numerous large buildings, among which arc the Arling- 
ton Hotel, the Occidental Hotel, the Union Hardware building, and 
many others of importance, also superintending tlie erection of . the 
state imiversitv. He owns his own brickvarils, at the mouth of the 



638 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

Dwaiiiisli river, his planl there ha\in<4- a eajjaeity nf sixt_\' tlKiUsaiid brick 
per (lay. In 1900 he cnlerctl into partnership witli E. J. Duliamel and F. 
M. (jribble, wlio are also experienced men in the business, and at the pres- 
ent time they are erecting the first steel building ever put up in Seattle. It 
is being constructed for the Steam Heat & Power Company and its dimen- 
sions are one hundred and ten by one hundred and eight feet, and eighty 
feet in height, the entire cost of the building to be about two hundred and 
seventy-five thousand dollars. Since his arrival in Seattle Mr. Megrath 
has enjoyed a constantly increasing patronage, his business growing con- 
tinually Iinth in volume and importance. Many large contracts have l)een 
awarded him, jjecause he is known as a man of exceptional business ability 
and great skill in the line of his chosen vocation. He is, furthermore, re- 
liable, and faithfully lives up to the terms of a contract. 

In 1S75 was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Megrath and Miss i^izzie 
J. (iilmorc, a native of Ireland. Seven children have come to bless their 
home: Agnes J., the wife of Sylvester C. Pier, a resident of Portland, 
Oregon: Ella G. ; Winnefred H.-; Frances R. G. : Lilly K. ; X'iolet May; 
and Pearl .\. The family home is one of the tine residences in the city. 
The parents are valued members nf the Presbyterian clnuxli ami the fam- 
ily occupy a very enviable position in social circles. Mr. Megrath is a 
member (if the Masonic fraternity, belonging to the blue lodge, chapter and 
commandery ; he is the eminent commander of Seattle Commandery. 1\. T. 
for 1902-1903, and has membership relations with Afifi Temple of Tacoma. 
His political support is given the Republican party. The wisdom of his 
determination to make America his home has been fully demonstrated as 
the years have passed. With keen insight he understood the business* pos- 
sibilities of the new world, and, establishing his home on the Pacific coast, 
he has steadily advanced to a position in building circles, where he is hon- 
ored and respected by all. 

JAMES CARROLL. 

For a number of years C"aptain James Carroll has been classetl among 
the ]irominent and infiuential citizens of Seattle, where he is interested in 
many important enterprises, being the agent for the Alaska Commercial 
Company, for the Rodman mines and for the Northern Lakes & Rivers Nav- 
igation Comi)any, while he is also a general merchant and outfitter in Alas- 
ka. He was born in Ireland, November i, 1840, but when only six months 
old he was brought by his father, Lawrence Carroll, to the United States, 




(KA. ~Cd ayi^^i^^-^^^ 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 639 

the latter locating un a farm in Kendall county, Illinois, where he died at the 
age of seventy years. This property is now in the possession of one of his 
daughters. 

Captain James Carroll was reared on that farm to the age of sixteen 
years, and he then went to Chicago and took up the life of a sailor, following 
that occupation for forty years, .\fter ahout two years spent on the Great 
Lakes he went to Xew "iDrk, and from ihal time forward during the re- 
mainder of his se;i faring life he follo\\etl ihe ljrin\' deep. He was first 
in the merchant marine service, sailing principally to Japan and China, and 
was in the last named country during the Chinese war of 1861. Returning 
thence to California, he tlien sailed to the Sandwich and South Sea islands 
and then to the Atlantic waters, on which he made the tri]:) to European pprts. 
Li 1863 he recei\'ed his first promotion and al'ierward filled all the higlier of- 
fices in the service, antl has \-isited nearly all the foreign countries. In 1865 
Ca]5tain Carroll again sailed to the Golden state, and from that time on he re- 
mained on the Pacific waters. In the early days he was connected with the 
National Steamship Company, and in 1866 he was the second oflicer of the 
brig "Swallow" when it took our envoy, Mr. Burlingame, to make the treaty 
with China. In 1878 Mr. Carroll became an employe in the Alaska service, 
sailing from Portland and Seattle, and he carried the first tourists to that 
country, which was prior to the advent of the mining industry there. In 
company with E. C. Hughes, N. A. Fuller and George E. Piltz, he fitted out 
the Juneau and Harris, and made a trip to that region in the fall of 1880. 
On the 4th of January, 1898, he abandoned his seafaring life and engaged in 
his present occupation. .About ten years ago he erected a pleasant home at 
Berkley, in which he established his family, and he is also interested to a 
considerable extent in property at Port Townsend, where he owns both 
residence and unimproved property and is also a stockholder in the water- 
works there. He is also interested in and is the purchasing agent for the 
Rodman mines, which are located on Baranof island, this side of Sitka, 
where they have sixty stani]) mill and seven miles of railroad. The trans- 
portation company in wliich he is interested, known as the Alaska Commer- 
cial ("ompar.y, owns three ships which run from Seattle to Alaska, and they 
also own nearly all the boats on the Lower Yukon with the excepti(jn of those 
belonging to the North American Lading & Transportation Company. The 
company owns and ojjerates nearly all the larger stores on the Yukon. A 
few years ago our sul^ject removed his outfitting business from Seattle 10 
Skagway, and has now turned that industry almost exclusively into the 
grocery line, of which he carries a stock amounting to twelve thousand del- 



640 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

Jars, while at Nome. Aliiska. his outfitting luisiness is capitalized at fifteen 
thousand d^illars. 

At San Francisco, California, in 1871, Captain Carroll was united in 
marriage to Dorothy Iknvington, and of tiieir children the only survivor is 
John, who for a nunijjcr of years served as purser, Init is now engaged in 
mining at Nome. In Jiiatters of national importance the Captain casts his 
ballot in favor of the Democracy, but at local elections he votes independently 
of party ties. In his .social relations he is a member of the Masonic frater- 
nity, being a member of Port Townsend Lodge No. 6, F. & A. M., of Chap- 
ter No. i.?o, at Victoria, of California Commandery No. i. Knights Tem- 
plar, and of Lawson Consistory No. i. He became a member of the Knights 
of Pythias whai that order was first organized, for many years has been 
identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and is also a member 
of the Benevolent and I'rotective Order of Elks. In connection with his 
seafaring life he is identified with the Master Marines' Association and the 
Masters and Pilots" .Vssociation of San Francisco. 

NELSON CHILBERG. 

Nelson Chilberg c:inie to Seattle iii 1872. He has been a very prom- 
inent factor in the development of this section of the state, has contributed 
to the work of reclaiming" Ala.ska for purposes of civilization, and in an early 
d.'iy he was actively identified with the mining interests of Colorado. He 
laid out the city of (Georgetown there and in other ways promoted improve- 
ment and ]jrogress. It will thus be seen that his life has been a busy, useful 
and active one. and in tlic history of Seattle he well deserves honorable men- 
ion as one who has borne his part in the work of advancement. 

Mr. Chilberg is a native of .Sweden, his birth having occurred in that 
laud on the 23d of September. i840. He is a son of C. J. Chilberg and a 
brother of Andrew Chilberg. now the president of the Scandinavian Ameri- 
can Bank of this city. Nelson Chilberg pursued his education in the public 
schools of Iowa, his father having located in that state in 1S4O, in which year 
he l)rought his family from Sweden to the United States. When about eigh- 
teen years of age he went with his f either to Minnesota to sell a lot of stock. 
He had been troubled with rheumatism, and his father desired to see if a 
change of climate wmild not prove helpful. He was greatly benefited there- 
by and after that he diil not remain long in Iowa. In i860 he and his brother 
Andrew accompanied iheir father to Colorado, crossing the Missouri river 
at PlattsmotUh and thence proceeded by team to Boulder. Mr. Chilberg 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 641 

eng'aged in mining at what is now (iolden ami aided in constructing a road 
across Guy mountain. He followed mining on Chicago creek, about ten 
miles south of Central City, and during the second winter which he spent in 
Colorado went to the present site of Georgetown, laying out and foundmg 
the town. He remained in the mines for four or fi\e years and then, purchas- 
ing an ox team, ])roceeded to Central City, where he engaged in teaming and 
hauling hay to the mines and the settlers living in that portion of the state. 
He there made his home fcjr a year, after which lie sold out and returned to 
Iowa for the winter. 

The next spring ]\lr. Chilberg took a load of provisions across the plains 
and afterward made four or five such trips, hut in the winter of 1864 
abandoned this work and returned to his old home in Iowa. He had 
to get a pass allowing him to cross the Missouri river, because of the condi- 
tions brought about the Civil war, then in progress. He remained in lovva 
in charge of his farm until 1872, when he decided to come to Washington, 
where his father had located three years |)reviuusl\-. He then sold all his 
property with the exception of his land and made his way to the Pacific coast. 
He rented a tract of land in the Swinomish Hats and there raised a crop of 
oats and barley. He sold the oats but could not dispose of the barley, for 
though the ground was rich and produced abundantly there was no market 
for sucli a crop at that time. Mr. Chilberg also took up a claim of eight}- 
acres. The ne.xt year he went to Port Townsend and conducted a dairy ranch 
in the Chimasum valley, readily disposing of his dairy products in the ad- 
joining log-ging camps. During" the next year he was in the employ of a 
farmer and in the follow ing year came to Seattle and established a grocery 
store in the town, then containing a population of about twenty-five hundred 
people. In this enterprise he was associated with his Ijrother Andrew, but 
later jjurch.-ised Iiis brother's interest and ct.mducted the store alone. He 
continued the business until the great hre swciJt over the city in June, 1S89, 
when his store was entirelv destroyed. Just pre\ious to this time he had be- 
come engaged in the real estate btisiness, and since the conflagration he has 
given much of his time to dealing in real estate in the city. His efforts have 
largely contributed to the improvement, extension and upljuilding of the city. 
He laid out the Chilberg addition, the Northern Pacific addition and the Mc- 
Elroy addition to Ballard, and these have become improved districts. 

In iSg6 ]VIr. Chilberg went to Juneau and the next spring to Central 
America, returning in May. Shortly afterward he took a steimer to Alas- 
ka and spent the succeeding winter in Skagwaw In the si)ring of 1897 he 
took up his abode in Atlin county, where he engaged in prospecting until 



642 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

autumn, wlicn he returned to Skagway and established a grocery store. 
With the returning;- spring the railroad was completed and Mr. Chilberg then 
sold his store and returned home, but in the spring of 1899 he went to Nome 
and did some ]jrospecting there. Ujion his return to Seattle he resumed real 
estate operations and is now engaged in this line of business. 

In Iowa, in 1865, Mr. Chilberg was united in marriage to Miss Matikla 
C. Slianstrom, and to them were born two children: John Edward and 
Mabel V.. the former a well known business man of the city. In 1877 Mr. 
Cliilberg purchased a home in Seattle and in 1884 built his present residence. 
On questions of state and national importance he ^•otes with the Democracy, 
but at local elections is independent. He belongs to tlie Ancient Order of 
L'nitcd Wnrknicr. and attends the Congregational church. The historv of 
pioneer life an<l nf the wonderful development of the west is largely familiar 
to ;\lr. Chilberg tlirougli actual experience. He visited the coast when it 
was set ofif from civilization and improvement of the east by long stretches 
of sand, almost impassable mountains and deep rivers. He knows of the 
hardshij^s of the early mining days and of the trials incident to pioneer life 
here, and he takes great pride in what has been accomplished by the enterpris- 
ing citizens and well deserves a share of the praise and gratitude due to those 
who in an early day established homes in the northwest and advanced its im- 
pro\ement. 

-MATT H. GORAILEV. 

Xcw countries natm-ally abound in }onug men, as only the strong and 
vigorous can undergo the labors incident to discovery and settlement. For 
similar reasons, as advancement is made in the various arts constituting civili- 
zation, and civil government takes shai)e, young men are apt to be found at 
the forefront in jjositions of responsibility .and trust. The new ni>rthwest, 
which has been bounding- forward so rapidly dm-ing the last few decades, is 
filled with ambitious spirits who have gone there in youth or early manhood 
to "grow up with the country." The Span.ish w.ar. owing to its diversion to 
the islands in tlic distant Pacific, furnished an advantageous opportunity 
to the adventurous spirits of the coast states, and incidentally a great stim- 
ulus to their commerce. It was natural, therefore, that when the scene oi 
war was transferred to the Philip])incs and a call was made for a large num- 
ber of troops to go to those distant possessions that there should be an eager 
desire to enlist among the ambitious young men of the northwest, .\mong 
those wh(j volunteered ])romptly. went to the front and saw arduous service 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 643 

amii! the swamps ami rice fields of the land of the 'i'agalogs, was the gentle- 
man whose name heads this sketch, and his title of captain was earned as the 
residl of gallant service in the field. But not simply in military matters but 
in civil life as well, Captain Gormley has shown himself to be a fit associate 
of those prog'ressive young men whose coml^ined efforts have brought the 
northwest so prominently to the front. 

Henry Gormley, who was a native of New York, came as a young man 
to Walworth county, Wisconsin, where he followed the business of contract- 
ing and building. Being attracted by the accounts heard of the Puget Sound 
country, he <letermined to try his fortunes in that section, and in 1878 came 
to Seattle, where he resumed his old occupation as a contractor. While re- 
siding in Wisconsin he had married Orra McGraw, by whom he hail three 
children, and (juc of the two of these now living is the gentleman with whose 
life this memoir is especially concerned. 

Alatt H. Gormley was born at Delavan, Wisconsin, March 18. 1867, 
and was conse(|uently about eleven years old when his father brought him to 
Seattle. He was given a good education in the public schools and at the 
state unixersit}-. where he received the degree of B. S., in the class of 1886. 
After leaving college Mr. Gormley engaged with his father in the lousiness of 
contracting and building, and was so employed until appointed deputy sher- 
iff, in which office he served during the period from 1890 to 1892, and then, 
after a short time in the cotmty treasurer's ofllce, he returned to ijuilding. 
In the same year of his graduation Mr. Gormley had joined the state militia, 
and when the call came for troops to fight against Spain the regiment to 
which he belonged was accepted in its entirety, and by the reorganization fur 
the federal service he became first lieutenant of Company B. The command 
was sent to the Presidio, where it was drilled and disciplined for si.K months 
and then sent to the Philippine islands for what proved to be a long continued 
and arduous ser\ice. Lieutenant Gomiley took part with his regimait in 
much hard marching throughout the quagmires of Luzun and adjacent isl- 
ands, and was engaged m innumerable skirmishes with the elusive TagaJogs, 
besides the more serious fights at Santa Ana, Guadaloupe, Pasig, Cainta. 
Taytax-. Morong and Colamba. The captain of Conii^any B having been 
killed at Pasig, l^ieutenant Gormley succeeded him in command, and from 
that time on was ranked as captain. At the e.xpiration of their term of enlist- 
ment this gallant regiment was returned to San I'rancisco and mustered out, 
and the individun! members, after the American style of doing these things, 
all speediiv relumed to their j^laces in the walks of ci\il life. With reputa- 
tii'u increased by his patriotic ser\ice in the distant orient Captain Gormley 



644 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

quietly resumed his old duties at Seattle, but was not long allowed to remain 
in private life by his admiring fellow citizens, lie first came to the city 
treasurer's office as clerk for Judge Foote. and after the election of S. F. 
Rathbun in the following spring he was n]i]H)intcd cliief (le]inty under the 
new incumbent. He served in this positiim until lyoj. when, at tlie spring 
election of that year, ho himself was chosen city treasurer and in due time in- 
stalled in the office. Captain Gormley is a good business man by natural 
inclination and training, and has completely mastered all the details of the 
treasurer's office during his connection therewith. There is no part of the 
work, however small, which he is not able to do, and which at some time he 
has not done, and he takes the main resi)onsibility himself, leaving only the 
routine matters for subordinates' attention. The result ijf ,-dl this has been 
a steady increase in the Imsiness of the office, and such accuracy in the ac- 
counting and scruiiuluus care ovev the pulilic rexenues as to elicit general 
praise for the treasurer from his constituenc}'. 

Captain Gormley has long been one of the acti\e }oung leaders in poli- 
tics on tlie Republican side, and is usually found as a delegate in the variotis 
party conventions. His fraternal connections are confined to membership 
in the Royal Arcanum. Likemost game spirits he is fond of all sorts of out- 
door sports and exercise, especially hunting and fishing, in which lines he 
is an ardent devotee. He is fund of the studv of Drnitliuldgy, and. in connec- 
tion with his friend. Sannicl Rathbun, has gi\en much time to this interest- 
ing science made so popular in .\merica In- the great Aububon. In 1892 
Captain Cormley was united in marriage at Seattle with Miss Ida Schon- 
myer. and tliex' have three briglit and pmmising cliildrcn. whose names are 
l.awrencc. Kowena and Jack. 

MORGAN JAMES CARREER. 

Morgan James Carkeek, one of the most prominent contractors and 
builders of Seattle, \\'ashington, has been identified with the business interests 
of this city for i)\er ;i (|uartcr of a centurx , and there are many notable ex- 
amples of his architeclur;d skill and aiiiHly to be seen thrdughout tlie city. 
Thoroughly reliable in all things, the quality of his work is a convincing test 
of his own jiersonal worth, and he has become an imjiortant factor in busi- 
ness circles. 

Mr. Carkeek was born in Redruth. Cornwall, England, of old English 
ancestry, his parents being M. J. and Elizabeth (Shepherd) Carkeek, also 
natix^es of Redruth, of which place his father was one of the leading con- 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 645 

tractors and liuilders. He was a valued and influential member of the Meth- 
odist church, taking a very active and prominent part in religious work, and 
serving as supermtendent of the Sunday-school. He established and built 
one. of the churches of his native town. He died at the age of sixty-eight 
years, honored and respected by all who knew him. and the shock of his death 
proved fatal to his wife, who survived him only three days. They were 
people of the highest moral character, and had a host of warm friends. 
To them were born thirteen children, six sons and se\-en daughters. Con- 
tracting and building became the occupation of all of the sons. One of these, 
Arthur Carkeek, is to-day a prominent architect and one of the most influ- 
ential citizens of the parish in which he has always made his home. He is 
now serving as justice of the peace and chief of the local board. 

In the public schools of his native land Morgan J. Carkeek acquired a 
good practical education, and with his father learned contracting and build- 
ing, soon becoming an expert workman. On his emigration to the United 
States in 1866, he settled in California, and for about three years engaged in 
mining in Tuolumne, Calaveras and J\'Iariposa counties, meeting w'ith but 
moderate success. He then returned to San Francisco, and in 1870 went to 
Port Townsend, \vhere he worked at his trade for three years. He visited 
Seattle in 1870, but did not locate permanently here until five years later. He 
built the first stone block, known as the Dexter Horton Bank, which was 
destroyed by fire in 1889. During his residence here he was successfully 
engaged in contracting and building, and had erected some of the most im- 
portant buildings of the city, including the fine Burke and Haller blocks, and 
many of the most beautiful residences. Air. Carkeek also built the Provin- 
cial jail in New Westminster, and other important buildings in Victoria ; 
the First National Bank building of Salem, Oregon; the barracks at Fort 
l.awton; aiul a part of the light-house on . Destruction island under govern- 
ment contract. He has reared for himself a lasting- monument in the city 
w here he makes his home by the many beautiful and thoroughly substantial 
buildings which he has erected there. He has one of the most elegant homes 
ot Seattle, which is located on the southeast corner of Madison and Boren 
axenues, and was built by him in 1886. It is situated in the midst of beauti- 
ful grounds, which are well laid out and attest the artistic skill and refinement 
lit' the owner. Mr. Carkeek also has a fine farm on the Dwamish river, six 
miles from the city, and owns property in several other counties of this state. 

In T879 Mr. Carkeek returned to England, where he married Emily, 
eldest daughter of Mr. Jackson Gaskill. late of the Chase. Potters Bar, 
Middlesex, and this union has been blessed with two children: \'i\-ian Mor- 



640 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

giiii, now a member of tlie Se;ittle bar; ami Gueiululcn. who is still in school. 
Tiie i)arents hold membership in the Episcopal church, and in politics Mr. 
Carkeek is identified \vidi the Kei)nblican ]):irty. lie is a member of the Cham- 
ber of C'omerce, and has always taken an aclue interest in those enterprises 
calculated to advance the wclf.are of Seattle. He was one of the fnst board 
of trustees who took stock and organized the first street railway in the city; 
and was also one of the organizers of the Pontiac Brick & Tile Company. 
Mr. Carkeek invented and patented the improved shingle-bunch which so 
economizes space as to nearly doul)le the capacity of cars for carrying 
shingles. .\s the shingle industry is important on I'uget Sound, this inven- 
tion has been the mean.s of sa\-ing thousands of dollars to the shingle man- 
ufacturer here. The career of Mr. Carkeek has ever been such as to warrant 
the trust and confidence of the business world, for he has ever conducted all 
transactions on the strictest principles of honor and integrity, and he right- 
fully enjoys the high esteem of his fellow citizens. His devotion to the pub- 
lic good is unquestioned, and arises from a sincere interest in the welfare of 
his fellow men. 

WILLIAM COCHRANE. 

Ireland has sent man}- of her worthy sons to the new world, and they 
have beconie important factors in advancing the interests of the various com- 
munities witli wiiicli ihcv are cnnnected. A representative of this class is 
William Cochrane, a nati\e of cmmtv Ca\an. Ireland, where he was born on 
the 15th of December, 1845. '" '^'•^ "'•' home in which he first saw the light 
of day his father and his grandfather were alsn hi>rn. and thus the same roof 
C'jvered the family for at least three generations, .\dam Cochrane, the fath- 
er of our subject, followed the tilling of the soil as a life occupation, and his 
death occurred at the old ancestral home in 1879, His wife, who bore the 
maiden name of Elizabeth McKibbon, was born at King's Court, county 
Cavan. Ireland, and her death occurred at the Cochrane home in 1881. To 
this worthy couple were born si.xteen chiklren, ten daughters and six sons. 

William ("ochrane received his cducatioii in the llibernian School in 
his nati\'e cuunty, and he remained at homo until his eighteenth year, dur- 
ing which time he assisted his f;ither in the w.ork nf the f.arm. In i8(\^ !;e 
crossed the broad Atlantic to the new world, and after his arrival here he was 
employed for two years in an architect's oflicc in New ^'ork city. Coing to 
the lufnber regions on the IMuskegon river in Michigan, he there spent three 
years in the employ of Harry ISartuw. after which, in i8r)o, he returned to 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 647 

New York city and was placed in charge of tlie Ijeautilui summer resort and 
farm owned by the noted New York criminal lawj'er, A. P. Clarke, located 
at Mount Claire, New Jersey, and consisting of one hundred acres. Thus 
he was employed for a year and a half, and during the following few months 
he had charge of the farm owned by L. j\I. Flernoy, a New York banker, the 
property being located at Paducah, Kentucky. Mr. Cochrane arrived in 
Seattle. \\'ashington, in ]N larch, 1873. the journey having been made \'ia 
Salt lake. During his first two years here he worked by the month for 
John Burns and William Powell, after which he purchased one hundred and 
sixty acres of timber land at Houghton, on Lake Washmgton. which he still 
owns. At that time his supply of ready money was extremely limited, but 
he found a valuable friend in Bailey Gatzet, one of the enterprising pioneers 
of Seattle, who furnished him with the means necessary' to embark on a large 
scale in the logging and lumbering business, and during the fifteen years in 
which he was thus engaged he crossed Lake Washington fifteen times on 
rafts, this being before the advent of boats on its waters. Forming a part- 
nership with Michael Day, these gentlemen went to the Skagit ri\er in Wash- 
ington in 1.879, where they secured a contract to Ijiiild a wagon road from 
Godell to the Ruby creek mines, a distance of nine miles, and after much diffi- 
culty, on account of deep snows, the road was completed in 1880. but the 
mines proved a failure and the money thus expended pro\ed a total loss, 
leaving the firm of Cochrane & Day in a state of bankruptcy. In 1S80, in 
order to retrieve their lost possessions, they purchased cattle from David 
Needy, which they took to the Dwamish valley, and there in connection with 
their cattle business they also furnished piles for the market. After two years 
Mr. Cochrane sold his interest therein to Michael Day"s brother and embarked 
e>:tensi\ely in the logging business, operating three large camps on Squak 
Slough, and Lake Lnion, continuing thus for three vears, on the expiration 
(if which period, on account of a disagreement with the ^\'estern Mill Com- 
pany, he aliandoned the business. This mill companx- was amply paid, how- 
ever, when Mr. Cochrane lobbied tlic lien .-irid scale law through the legis- 
lature in 1883. 

In 1885 ]\Ir. Ciicbrane became the owner ni his present tine farm of one 
hundred and seventy-four acres, located on the White rixer fifteen miles 
from Seattle, between the stations of Orillia and O'Brien, on the LInion Pa- 
cific Railroad. In 1894 he purchased eightv acres adjoining, and he now has 
one of the l)est improved farms in the vallew on which is located an elegant 
residence and many .substantial outbuildings. I'or man\- \-ears he has also 
been extensively engaged in the hop business, si.xty acres of his place being 



648 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

devoted to thai cid)). and in addition he is the owner of a large and well 
equipped dairy, milking about sixty cows. To carry on so many enterprises 
requires the assistance of about twenty-four men. His place was purchased 
from the heirs of Patrick O'Brien, one of the early pioneers of the valley. 
In 1885 our subject was a candidate on the fusion People's ticket for the 
office of sheriff of King county, his opponent being John H. McGraw, who 
re])resented the Republican party. Mr. Cochrane was successful in the elec- 
tion, and proved a competent and able official. In his social relations he is 
a nieml>er of the Ancient Order of United \\'orkmen at Kirkland, Wash- 
ington. 

On the 9th of .April, 1890, he was united in marriage to Katie A. Modi- 
gan, who was born at Kilkee, county Clare, Ireland, on the loth of July, 
1870. She came to this country in 1887. and for a time made her home 
with a sister in Connecticut and a brother in Dakota. She came to Seattle, 
\\'ashington. in 1886, accompanied by her lirother, and four years later gave 
her hand in marriage to Mr. Cochrane. Their marriage was celebrated in 
the Catholic church near their home; the ground on which this church 's 
located was donated by our subject. 

An interesting incident in the life of Mr. Cochrane occurred in 1888, 
wlien Cleveland made the second race for the presidency. A bet was made 
with George W. Tibett, our subject advocating that Cleveland would lie 
elected, and the wager was that the loser should play a hand organ on one of 
the public streets of Seattle for four hours, while the proceeds from this en- 
tertainment were to be given to the Orphans' Home and the Ladies Aid 
Si'ciety. Mr. Cochrane was the loser, and he performed his share of the 
wager of the great entertainment of the citizens of that city, the proceeds 
therefrom amounting to foiu- hundred and sixty dollars. 

FRED H. HARKIXS. 

Fred H. Harkins was born in New Orleans. Louisiana, T'^bruary ij. 
183 1, and is now living a retired life in Seattle. His has been a somewhat 
eventful career, in which there are many points of interest. His parents 
died during his infanc\' and he was reared by his paternal uncle, Godfrey Har- 
kins, who conducted ;•. meat business in the old French market of New Or- 
leans. Fred attended a privated school until he was about fourteen years of 
age, when his uncle apprenticed him to S. V. Barrett, who conducted a whole- 
sale wine and lic|uor store at No. ?8 of the old Levee, one block from the 
custom bouse on old Levee street. "N'mmg Harkins remained with that man 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 649 

until the spring' uf US48, \vlicn he had some trouble with his employer. He 
was told to copy a letter to an agent in Matamoras. The letter was written 
in French, of which language Mr. Harkins had but little knowledge, and be- 
cause of a mistake made in the copying his employer abused him, and our 
subject resolved to lea\e. His uncle insisted upon his returning to Mr. 
Barrett but the nephew was just as resolute and refused to do so. 

In the summer of 1848 the United States troops were returning home 
from Mexico, going up the Mississippi river. Mr. Harkins then began 
selling books. He would take books on board a steamer bound for some 
port up the river, place them upon the table in tJie cabin and sell them to the 
officers and men. His profits amounted to an average of twenty-five dollars 
a day, but insteatl of making a good use of his money, on Sundays he would 
visit the bull fights which were held across the river. Outside the enclosure 
were gaming tables and Mr. Harkins usually left the greater part of his 
week's profit there. However, he soon learned from experience that this 
was not a wise course to pursue and he has since let gambling alone. In 
the latter part of the summer of 1848 he went to St. Louis on the steamer 
Illinois and tried to engage in book peddling but found that he could make 
nothing at it. He therefore went up the Illinois river as far as La Salle. 
At that time the locks on the canal were just being completed. He returned to 
Peoria and aftenvard went to Knox^■ille, Illinois, where he secured work as 
a farm hand in the employ of Cyril W^oods at thirteen dollars a month. He 
was thus engaged for three years and in the spring of 1851 went to St. Louis, 
where he took pasage on the steamer V.'ar Eagle, bound for St. Paul. Min- 
nesota. The latter city was at that time a mere hamlet compared to what it 
is to-day. St. ^^nthony Falls were still smaller and there was no ]\Iinne- 
aiiolis. the present site of the city being still a part of the Fort Snelling reser- 
\;'.ti('n. Mr. Harkins went to Stillwater, eighteen miles east of St. Paul, at 
tlie head oi the St. Croix. That place was the headquarters for the logging 
industry. There was but one mill for cutting lumber, but this was a small 
aftair. the motive power being furnished by an overshot water wheel. 
The logs were cut and hauled to the stream above the mill and were floated 
and caught in booms, then were rafted and floated down the river to the mills 
as far as St. Louis, where they were cut into lumber. Mr. Harkins was em- 
])loyed in the logging camps during the years 1853-4-5. 

In rS^f) occurred the marriage of Wr. Harkins, and he then secured a 
team of his own and began the logging business for himself, his wife acting 
as cook for the crew. He made a successful drive, but after having his logs 
in the boom fur a time there came a freshet, and the rush of the water broke 



650 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

llie boom ami scattered the logs as far down as Lake P'epiii. The expense of 
picking them up would have exceeded the value of the logs, so he let them go, 
and the winter's earnings were thus wiped away. Mr. Harkins then began 
business life anew. He took up a pre-emption claim and began the develop- 
ment of a farm, but the financial panic of 1857 made it a very hard matter to 
gain a start to fortune. However, there was plenty of game such as vleer 
and pheasants, and these furnished many a meal for the pioneer home. The 
mink, otter and martens were also numerous and there were many musk- 
rats in the marshes, .so that in the seasons of 1857-58-59 Mr. Harkins made 
considerable money in hunting and trapping. In the fall of i860 he went 
with his wife and two children to visit her people in Butler county, Pennsyl- 
\ania, and vhen returned to his old home in New Orleans. His people were 
\ery much sur])rised U) see him as they believed him dead, having heard 
nothing from him since he left his native city in 1848. They gave him a 
ciirdial welcome, but he ditYered from them so radically on the slavery ques- 
tion that it engendered bitter feeling, and he decided to return to the north. 
In the early part of March, 1861, shortly before the blockade of the river, he. 
took a steamer going north as far as Dubuque, Iowa, where he had friends 
li\ing. He enlisted in the Third Iowa Independent Battery in September, 
l>^6I, and sent his wife and children to her people in Minnesota. He served 
out his term of three years and was discharged at Davenport in October, 
1864, returning to his home with a most creditable military record. 

The following spring l\Ir. Harkins removed to T^.njwn county, Minne- 
sota, ten miles form New Ulm, on the Minnesota ri\er in the Sioux reserva- 
tion. He built a shingle mill near the river, and purchased and broke and 
fenced one hundred and sixty acres of prairie land on the rise back of the bot- 
tom land ; the bottom land was covered with timber, while the upland was 
prairie. He also established an ai)iary of three hives which was increased in 
five years to one hundred and thirty-two hives, and from these he would 
extract one barrel of honey of forty gallons, between nine o'clock in the morn- 
ing and three o'clock in the afternoon of each day during the three weeks 
while the basswood trees were in blossom. In connection with his shingle 
mill and the care of his apiary Mr. Harkins engaged to a considerable extent 
in the raising of horses and caltlc, hut in the winter of 1872-3 there came one 
of the fejirful blizzards which are the terror of the western country. In that 
storm there perished within a radius of one hundred miles from the Harkins 
home .seventy-five peeople. Mr. Harkins was out in the storm for a time, on 
his return home from New Ulm, a distance of ten miles from the farm.- 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 651 

That blizzard was the direct cause of the reni')\al of the family to Seattle, 
for they did not wish to go, through any more such experiences. 

In the fall of 1873 Mr. Harkins came on an inspection tour t(j the north- 
west over the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific Railroads to San Fran- 
cisco. He went as far snuth as \\'atson\-iile and then returned to San Fran- 
cisco and took passage on the steamer Princess bound for Victoria. Leav- 
ing that steamer, he became a passenger on the steamer Goliah at Port Town- 
send, and proceeded to Seattle. On the night of the earthquake which shook 
up the Collins Hotel, he went to Tacoma, which at that time was but a small 
settlement, containing only the Hanson mill and its yard, with only a small 
space cleared out in the woods. The Northern Pacific Railroad was only 
finished as far as Tenino, eighteen miles south of Olympia, from which place 
to Tacoma there was a stage line. After two weeks spent upon the Sound 
Mr. Harkins proceeded to Olympia by steamer, and on to Portland, Oregon, 
by rail. He went as far south as Albany, thence returned to Portland and 
took a steamer for San Francisco, whence he returned to Alinnesota. There 
he sold his stock, his bees, his home and some of his real estate, and with his 
family started for Tacoma in the fall of 1874. He invested in some real 
estate in Tacoma, which he still owns, but he remained in that city for only 
eleven months, going thence to Seattle, where he purchased his present home 
on West and Vine streets. He has never yet had occasion to regret his loca- 
tion in Washington. Since coming here he has engaged in job carpentery 
work, in bridge building and logging. He also conducted a stave factory 
in connection with G. W. Harris and W. C. Reveal. The business was 
closed out in 1884, and since that time Mr. Harkins has li\ed retired, having 
acquired a handsome competence which enables him to rest from further 
labors. 

On October 2, 1836. Mr. Harkins was marned to Mary A. Kriedler. 
She was a daughter of Daniel and Polly (McCollough) Kriedler, both of 
whom were natives of Pennsylvania, and the former was of German descent 
and the latter of Scotch lineage. In 1853 they removed from Butler county, 
Pennsylvania, to Stillwater, Minnesota, and there Mr. Harkins met the lady 
who became his wife. To this marriage were born the following children: 
I'Ved, who was bi>rn in Stillwater. October 2. 1857. is now engaged in busi- 
ness in Tacoma; Flarry, born in Stillwater, February 4, i860, is chief en- 
gineer on the steamer Farrollon. running between Alaska and Seattle, and 
his family reside at Port Townsentl ; both of these sons married in Seattle 
and each has two children, a boy and a girl. Willie, the third son, born in 
P>rown county. Minnc'^ota, in April, 1860, died in Seattle, .\ugust 4. 1880; 



652 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

j\lay Annie, l)i)rn in lirown cuunt_\-. .\[iniics(jtri, <)ct<il)er -'3. 1871, died in 
Tcicoma November 18, 1874; Bertie, born in Seattle, November 2, 1875, ^^^'^ 
in this city Jnly 30. 1880; Ivy Myrtle, born in Seattle. June 17, 1880. was 
married in November, 1901, tn i!. W. Mchitosh, .-ind is uuw livintj in San 
Francisco, California. 

In politics Mr. Harkins has always been independent. When the par- 
ties place their respecti\-e candidates in the held he considers the htness of the 
dijTcrent office seekers, casts his ballot as lie thuiks best and then al)ides the 
vote of the majority. He has never held, nor would he accept a public office 
and has alv.ays ad\'ised his sons to follow the same course. Mr. Harkins 
has had many experiences in his life, in New Orleans, in the logging camps 
of Minnesota, amid the pioneer famis of that state, and in the development 
of the lumber regions and the productive industries of the northwest. He has 
niade and retained many friends, and his sterling worth has ever gained for 
him the respect and confidence of those with whom he is associated. 

SAMUEL F. RATHBUX. 

Samuel F. Rathbim can be called one of the representative citizens of 
Seattle. His term of office as citv treasurer has btit recciitl\- expired, he hav- 
ing been elected to that postioii in March, upo, the result of the choice of 
his fellow townsmen. He has resided in Seattle since I'cbruary. 1890. He 
was born near Fishkill on the Hudson, in Dutchess ct)unt\ . Xew York, April 
17, 1858. The family came to America from England prior to 1650. and 
settled in Connecticut. Samuel R. Rathl)un. the father of our subject, was 
bom in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and was a well known woolen manufac- 
turer carrying on business along that line thiouglioui hi-, life. In his poli- 
tical \iews he was a Whig ;uid afterward became a Republican, he and his 
son Samuel being the only ones of the f:imil_\- connecteil with the Republi- 
can ])arty. The father was ;i warm ])ersoiial friend of former United States 
Senator (ieorge F. Edmunds, and in 183(1 did campaign work throughout 
Vermont with that gentleman. This was the only time that he e\er actively 
engaged in ])olitical work. He was a man of inlluence and i)rominence. 
however, in business circles, and his opinions were considered as authority on 
everything pertaining to woolen manufacture. His l)rolher Milton was a 
soldier in the war of the Rebellion and died in I-'rance in 1864 from disease 
contracted in the army. Samuel K. Rathbun was united in marriage to Mary 
L. Hawley of Colchester, \'ermont. in the year 1830. She is descended 
from Revolutionarv ancestr\'. Her grandniotlicr. as is i-ecorded in the his- 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 653 

t(iry iii' \'eniic'nt. refused to t;ive l)rearl Id a iiuinl)er nt English soldiers 
who demanded nf her what she was cooking, and wlien tliey threatened to 
take the liread she seized an axe and dro\c them all from the house, after 
which she was unmolested l)y the British troops. Samuel F. Rathbun is the 
eighth in order of liirth of a family of nine children. His sister, Mrs. C. W. 
Smith, is the wife of the city librarian of Seattle, and she and her brother are 
the only representatives of the family in the northwest. The faher died at 
the age of seventy-six years and the mother's death resulted from an accident 
when she was hfty-one vears of age, although her family were noted for their 
longeyity. 

Samuel F. Ralhlnin pursued his studies in his nati\'e state and was grad- 
uatotl in the high, school of Auburn, New York. Fie was afterward asso- 
ciated with banking interests for ten years and when he first came to Seattle 
continued in the same line of business activity. In 1886 he began to work 
his way westwru'd and visited the greater portion of the central part of the 
countr\- from .Manitoba south to Oklahoma. He was one of the parties who 
participated in the hrst city election held in Oklahoma (7ity. Elreno had 
but five ])eople within its borders at that time. His destination, however, was 
the coast, and at last he started for the Sound country, arriving in Seattle in 
F>bruary, 1890. During the first three years which he spent in this city he 
was connected with the Washington Bank, after which he returned to the 
east for his wife. Shortly after his marriage he brought his bride to Seattle 
;md turned his attention to merchandising. He carried on business until 
appointed d(])uty city treasurer in 1896, and in i<i(» he became city treas- 
urer, so that lie was connected with the actix'e management of the position 
for six years. W'lien he assiuned the office there were only three men em- 
])l(n-ed in the deparinient. but owing to the rapid griiwth iif the city, business 
has steadily and constantly increased so that ten men are employed regularly, 
and so great is the volume of business that it is almost impossible for them 
to attend to it. the increase being more than three hundred per cent. Under- 
standing e\cry detail and department of the work. Mr. Rathbun carefully 
superintended everything connected with the office and controlled affairs in 
a way that indicated his excellent business ability and executive force, and 
made his services nf the greatest value to the city. Xo more faithful cus- 
tt)dian of the ])ublic exchequer could be found, and he well tleserved the 
h(^nor which was c inferred upon him by his election to the office. He is 
one of the active workers in the ]\e])ublican ])arty in this city and has at- 
tended many nf its conventions and lieen a prominent factor in Republican 
councils for iwciuv-tbree vears. both in Xew \'<irk and in Washington. 



654 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

( )n tlie 31st of March. 1891, AJr. Kathbun was united in marriage to 
Liiella Wilkinson, a daughter of V. B. Wilkinson, a merchant of Auburn, 
New \(irk. He erected his own residence here on Fourteenth avenue north, 
and has become interested in other real estate investments and dealings. He 
belongs to the Independent Order of Foresters and the Chamber of Com- 
merce. He attends St. Mark's and St. Clement's church, his wife being a 
member of the latter. Mr. Rathbun is a popular and valued representative 
of the Elliott Bay Yacht Club and is an ex-commodore of the Northwest 
International Yachting Association, lie also belongs to the Seattle Kennel 
Clul) anil has been connected with all matters of interest in the athletic line, 
being an ardent sportsman and appreciati\-e of the need of such relaxation 
from business cares as an aid to health. He has carried on scientific investi- 
gations in natural history and is one of the best ornithologists of the north- 
west. He is a member of the American Ornithologists' Union, a high dis- 
tinction, and is authorit}' concerning ever3'thing in this line on the Pacific 
coast. He has contributed to the literature of the association, being the 
author of the first list of land birds of western Washington ever compiled, 
and is a correspondent of the Smithsonian Institute. While in New York 
he was volunteer fireman for eight years and was hncnian of a crack com- 
pany. He is a man of distinguished and forceful individuality, of broad 
mentality and most mature judgment, and is leasing his impress upon the 
scientific world as well as upon the ])ublic life of his adnpted city. During 
the years of his residence in .Seattle he has become a factor in its de\elopment 
and npbuildmg and in tlie ])romotion of enterprises which add :iot alone to 
his individual prosperity but als(p ad\ mice the general welfare and prosperity 
of the city which, he makes his home. In manner he is most cordial and 
genial, and has a deep and abiding interest in his felhtw men. These quali- 
ties render him a most popular citizen, and it would be ditticult to find one 
who has more friends in Seattle than Samuel F. Rathbun. 

RE\'. ALEX AND KK BEERS. 

There is nothing in the world more beautiful to contemplate than the 
spectacle of a life rich in the harvest of good and unseltish deeds on behalf 
of humanity. The man who has lived for others and has brought into potent 
exercise the best energies of his mind that he might make the world brighter 
and better from his being ti part of it, cannot fail to enj\)y a serenity of soul 
that will reveal itself in all the relations of his life. The life of the subject 
of this sketch has l^een one of sisfnal activitv and dc\otion as a laborer in the 




<^^^^^^^^ ,:^:^^^^^;^^;^ 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 655 

vineyard of tlie Divine Master and in the tield ot education, and he has borne 
the heat and burden of the day unfalteringly and with that zeal which has 
made his life one worthy of emulation. He is at the present time pastor of 
the First Methodist Episcopal church of Seattle and also has the additional 
responsibilities implied in liis incumi>enc}- of the ofhce of president of the 
Seattle Seminary. 

Alexander Beers is a native of the state of Iowa, having been born at 
Bloomfield, Davis county, on the ^th of March. i86j, a son of Ezekiel and 
Sarah (Underwood) Beers. Ezekiel Beers was left an orphan in his child- 
hood and was reared by an uncle. He came in an early day to the state of 
Kansas and there endured the tr\ing experiences and vicissitudes of pioneer 
life and the peril incidental to the border trouliles through which the state 
gained its sobriquet of "Bleeding Kansas." At the time of the war of the 
Rebellion he enlisted in the L'nion army and assisted in driving Price from 
Missouri. He thereafter retained his residence in Kansas until 1879, when 
he became one nf the pioneers of Multnomah count)', Oregon, l(3cating in 
Powell ^'alley. about fifteen miles east of the city of Portland, where he still 
resides, being o'le of the prominent farmers and stock-growers of that sec- 
lion, while in politics he is a stalwart Republican. His cherished and de- 
voted wife was summoned into eternal rest in the year 1896 and is survived 
by nine of her ten children, Alexander l)eing the only one of the number now 
residing in Washington. 

Rev. Alexander Beers attended the puljlic schools until 1884. when he 
wait to New York and became a student in the A. M. Chesbro Seniinaiy, 
an institution maintained under the auspices of the Free Methc«list church, 
near the city of Rochester. Here he .completed a course of study, after which 
he took tlu; regular di\inity course prescribed by the church, and was duly 
ordained elder. During his course of study he served for a time as pastor 
of the Virginia Street Free Methodist church of Buffalo, New York. He 
also served as pastor of the First Free Methodist church of Rochester, New 
York. He was married in the fall of 1889 to Miss Adelaide Newton, daugh- 
ter of Randolph Xewton, a wealth}- and influential farmer of Chenango 
county. New York. Miss Newton was for a number of years one of the 
leading teachers in the A. M. Chesbro Seminary. 

At the earnest request of Bishop Roberts, he resigned his position as 
pastor and went to Virginia to assume the position of principal of Virginia 
.Seminary at Spottsylvania C^ourt House, Mrs. Beers becoming preceptress 
at the same time. He continued his etfectixe labors in this institution for a 
period of three years, when he was called by the board of trustees of Seattle 



656 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

Seminary to become the principal. He has been connected with the Seattle 
Setninary, as principal or president, lor ten j^ears, and under his manage- 
ment the institution has become one of the most flourishing of its kind in the 
state of Washington. -\t the time he took the management the seminary 
was burdened with an indebtedness of fifteen thousand dollars. This incubus 
he has entirely removed and has made various improvements in the buildings, 
eciuipments and facilities. He has a strong faculty and the institution of 
learning is strictly up to date. A ladies' hall was erected in 1899, adding 
greatl}' to the accommodations of the seminary, which is in a flourishing 
condition, with a constanth' increasing patronage. Rev. Beers has been not 
only president of the institution but has served as pastor of one of the Free 
Methodist churches during the greater portion of the time he has been in 
Seattle. During his pastorate Mr. Beers has succeeded in building a church 
and parsonage, said to be the best on the coast of the denomination to which 
he belongs, and has succeeded in raising a considerable indebtedness which 
encumbered the denomination and impaired its functions, and has shown 
himself a capable administrator, an indefatigable worker, as well as a popu- 
lar pastor. He was reared a stanch Republican, casting his first vote for 
James G. Blaine, but is now a most enthusiastic temperance worker, always 
casting his vote for the prohiliition of the liquor traffic. 

GEORGE E. SACKETT. 

Success in any line of (iccu])ati()n. in any avenue of business is not a 
matter of luck but the legitimate result of effort which utilizes the means at 
hand. In y\e\\ of diis condition the study of laiograph}- becomes valuable, 
and it is a ]:)ractical advantage tn trace the history of a successful life, be it 
in the world of business, where competition is rife, in the intellectual field, 
where devotees o]>en up the wider realms of knowledge, in a public sphere, 
M'here is directed the course of government and the policies formed that 
sway nations, or in the calm and peaceful pursuits of agriculture. The at- 
tention of the reader is here directed to the life of a man well known in busi- 
ness circles in Seattle by reason of his keen discrimination, untiring activity 
and executive power, and v.ho occupies the position of secretary and treas- 
urer of the Diamond Ice M- Storage Company and also the ^Mutual Light & 
Heat Company. 

Mr. Sackett was I»rn in I^anesville, ?Iarrison county, Indiana, March 
10, 1843. The f.imily is a very old one in .Vmerica and Sackett Harbor is 
jiamcd in honor of its earlv representatives. The record can be traced back 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 657 

to Colonel Sackett, who constructed ships for the government during the 
Revolutionary war. The grandfather and the father of our subject both 
bore the name of Charles. The latter was born in Massachusetts in 1820, 
went with his family to Indiana, becoming a very active and influential mem- 
ber of his community, and settling in Floyd county as one of its early pio- 
neers. There he took an important part in public affairs and served for ten 
years as count} commissioner and for eight years as county auditor. He was 
also a member of the city council of New Albany, and his political support 
was given the Whig party in early life, while later he became a Democrat. 
In Indiana he was united in marriage to Miss Joyce, a daughter of William 
Gresham, an uncle of the Hon. Walter Q. Gresham, who served as secretary 
of state under President Cleveland. Thirteen children were born of this 
marriage, of whom our subject is the fourth in order of birth and the only 
one now living in Washington. The father still resides in Indiana and is 
now eighty-nine years of age, but the mother passed away at the age of 
sixty-three years. 

In the public schools of his native state George E. Sackett pursued his 
education and when fifteen years of age entered upon his business career. He 
served for eight years as deputy county auditor under his father and from 
that time until 1892 was connected with the iron manufacturing interests 
in the rolling mill of .\ew .\lbany. Thence he came to the west, and after 
looking over the country decided to locate in Seattle, bringing his family to 
this city in June, i8c)2. He and Charles E. Crane and others became the 
owners of the ice plant, which was then I»ut an insignihcant affair, but they 
have developed this industry until the plant now has a capacity of thirty tons 
a day. They are also doing an e.xtensi\'e cold storage business and have 
lately developed a steam heating iiidustry. furnishing heat for many homes 
in the territory lying between Madison and I'lke streets. In the electrical 
department of their business they furnish light and ])ower for the same terri- 
tory'. This has been accomplished only by the most earnest and active effort, 
but they lia\e succeeded in building up a fine business and devote their entire 
attention to the work, whicli has now proved to them a profitable source of 
income. 

In Charleston, Indiana, on the 25th of Octoijer, 1876, Mr. Sackett \\as 
united in marriage to Miss Mary K. Van Hook, a daughter of William \"an 
Hook, a druggist of that place and a representative of an old and prominent 
family of Indiana. Their union has been blessed with one son and two 
daughters, P.rrett \"an Hook, who is now in the electrical department of the 
business of which his father is secretary and treasurer; Martha J. and Mar- 



658 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

garet ]., who are at home. While residing in Indiana Mr. Sackett took an 
active part in the work of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the 
Knights of Pythias fraternities, but has not been connected with either since 
coming here. He has given his attention in an undivided manner to his 
business affairs. He possesses most excellent organizing and managing 
capacity and in the successful operation of the industries with which he is 
connected displays superior executive power. 

G. WARD KEMP. 

G. Ward Kemp, who is engaged in the practice uf law in Seattle, occu- 
pying a pleasant office in the Burke building, was born at Northeast, Mary- 
land, at the headwaters of the Chesapeake bay, on February ii, 1867. He 
was called Ward after his relatives in Rochester, New York, Ferdinand 
Ward, the noted Wall street financier, who operated there with Grant in the 
earlv eighties, being his secon.tl cousin. George Kemp, his grandfather, who 
married Elizabeth Miller, was a native of England and about 1835 came to 
America and declared his intention of surrendering his title of "gentleman" 
for that of "American citizen," and settled at Mount Morris, New York, 
where he became largely interested in farming. The maternal grandmother 
of Mr. G. Ward Kemp was an Ashley, and a descendant of the Johnstones, 
whose ancestry could be traced back in direct line through an old Connecti- 
cut family to an emigrant who came to the new world on the Mayflower, and 
she was also related to the Bristols of Ohio. Mr. Potter, the maternal grand- 
father, was a cousin of Potter Palmer, the millionaire hotel man of Chicago ; 
he was a Presbyterian missionary and long labored among the Choctaw and 
Cherokee Indians of .Vrkansas; he had a soldier's claim in Minnesota where 
St. Paul now stands, and in 1850 took up his abode in Augusta, Michigan, 
and spent his last days at Niles, Alichigan, where his death occurred at the 
age of seventy-five years. His widow still survives and is now eighty-five 
}ears of age, and both these worthy people were educated together at Ober- 
lin College. George Kemp, the paternal grandfather, also located at Au- 
gusta, Michigan, where he died when about eighty years of age, and his wife 
died there soon after at the age of seventy-nine. 

Edward Kemp, the father of G. Ward, was born in England and was 
about two years of age when his parents came to America. He was edu- 
cated at Olivet College, Michigan, and in i860 married Jennie A. Potter, 
who had been educated at home by governesses. Mr. Kemp turned his at- 
tention to agricultural pursuits in the Wolverine state, liut in 1865 moved 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 659 

to Maryland, where, owing to his abohtionist tendencies, he did not receive 
a very cordial welcome. But he bought a farm on the eastern shore of 
Chesapeake bay and engaged in farming there until 1884. when he sold out 
and took up his abode at Lansdale, near Philadelphia. Pennsylvania. In 
1892, owing to the cold climate, the family came west, and lioth parents 
lived near El Paso de Robles, California, until January, 1903. when Mrs. 
Kemp died. In their family were seven children, of whom six are living: 
Elizabeth, at home; Ellen G., who is teaching in New Jersey; G. Ward; 
Laura Evangeline, who is also teaching in New Jersey; Eftie J., the wife 
of John Hudst)n. at Templeton, California; and Bowd^in P.. who is a den- 
tist at Suisun City, near San Francisco, and in igot married Louise Pfau. 
G. Ward Kemp pursued his early education in the public schools, and 
for one year was a student in the Dansville Seminary, at Dansville, New 
York. At the age of nineteen he went to Salida, Colorado, and learned the 
machinist's trade in the shops of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, where 
he remained four years and saved several hundred dollars, which he de- 
termined tt) spend for a college education. Accordingly he went at once to 
the University of ilissouri, where he remained four years, and in 1891 re- 
ceived the degree of Bachelor of Laws and in 1892 that of Master of Laws. 
He was a po];)ular sttident in the school and served as president of one of the 
literary clulis and was also one of the founders of the Bliss Lyceum, named 
in honor of Judge Bliss, the dean of the law department of the imiversity 
and a noted law writer. Mr. Kemp was the only one of his class and the 
first person to win the degree of Master of Laws from the university. As 
soon as his college education was completed he went to California and began 
practice in San Luis Obispo, where he reiuained till the fall of 1898. when 
he came to .Seattle. He made this move because the fornier held was limited, 
and he decided to locate in a large city, where the \-olunie of legal business 
would lie greater. In 1895 he had made a trip to the north, in which he 
visited Portland. Tacoma, Seattle and. later. Spokane and even .\Iaska. and 
came to the conclusion that because of the natural resources and surround- 
ings of Seattle it had the brightest prospects of a brilliant future and accord- 
ingly he established his home here. On the 1st of January. 1899, he opened 
the office at 430-2 Burke biiilding, where he has since reiuained. A leading 
case with which he was connected was that known as the Brabon, or firemen, 
case, in which he established a new point of law, namely, the liability of the 
city for i)ersonal injuries on an imgraded street. This case also established 
the fact that firemen are not servants of the city. He won his suit here for 
the widow and. upon appeal argued the case in (^lympia, and the opinion 



66o REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

A\hich was given in July. 190J. sustained liim. The judgment of eleven 
thousand seven hun(h-ed and fifty dohars \\as the largest for personal in- 
juries ever given against the city of Seattle. While in California Mr. Kemp 
largely engaged in the practice of corporation and land law, hut he has not 
made a specialty of an^• particular branch here except of patent law. He 
has conducted a number of damage suits, in which he has lieen very success- 
ful, and has had some noted cases in bankruptcy in the United States courts. 
He has tried nine cases in the supreme courts, and of the four tried in Cali- 
fornia he won three and of the five tried in this state he has won all. This is a 
rfmarkable record and shows that he is possessed of \-ery sujjerior ability 
in the line of his chosen profession. 

Believing firmly in the principles of the Republican party. Mr. Kemp 
gives to it his political support, and deii\ered many campaign addresses in 
the first year in wiiich William McKinley was a candidate for the presidency. 
His professional duties, however, prevent him from entering actively into 
politics. He belongs to St. John's Lodge X(i. 9. 1-". & A. M., in which he 
served as junior steward. He is past grand of Seattle Lodge No. 7, I. O. 
O. F., and is also a member of Camp No. 69, W. of W. He belongs to St. 
Mark's Episcopal church, is director of St. ALark's chapter of the Brother- 
hood of St. .\ndrew. and attended as one of its delegates at the convention 
in Boston. October. 1902. He is one of the lay readers and has been a mem- 
ber of the church choir almost continuously during his residence here. He 
has taken an acti\e part in the work of both clutrch and Sunday-school, and 
in the latter long served as assistant superintendent. Fie was confirmed when 
fifteen years old iiv Bishop Lav. of Easton. Maryland, and since that time 
has labored earnestly I0 extend the inlluence and promote the growth of the 
church. Althou-gh well grovmded in the principles of common law at his ad- 
mission to the bar. he has ever since been a diligent student of the legal 
science, and this knowledge has served him well in many a legal battle before 
superior and appellate courts. lie always prepares his cases with great care, 
and if there is a close point involved in the issue, it is his habit to thoroughly 
examine every authority bearing u])on the (|uestion, ami this makes him a 
very dangerous ad\ersary. 

On November 12. 1902. Mr. Kemn was married in St. Alark's church 
to Miss Charlotte Leslie Shannon, who was born No\-ember 13, 1880, near 
Des Moines, Iowa. ;ind received her educaion at the public schools of Omaha, 
Nebraska, and Jacksonville. Florida, later attended the Young Ladies' Semi- 
naiy at Salt Lake City. Utah, graduated from the high schools of both 
Crangeville. Idaho, and North Yakimn. \\'ashington, coiupleted the normal 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 66 1 

course at Lewistun, Idaho, and linally attended \\ hitman College at Walla 
Walla, Washington; she has been an interested student of Greek, Latin and 
the modern Romaic languages, mathematics and. music, and, above all these 
accomplishments, she has a cb.arming personality. Her father is James \\'. 
Shannon, tlie son of Isaac Shannon and his wife, formerly a Miss Endsley, 
both from Ohio. ]Mr. Shannon is a cousin of Stephen (jlover, the musical 
composer, and also of James Shannon, the owner of ;i fine stud of racing 
horses at Chicago. For the past twenty years Air. Shannon has been en- 
gaged as a civil engineer andi mining expert in Wyoming and Idaho, for the 
last seven years holding the positions of United States deputy mineral sur- 
veyor for Idaho and county surveyor of Idaho county, Idaho. J'ricjr to 
coming to the west he was clerk and treasurer of Warren county, Iowa: he 
brought his family to Seattle in 1902. His wife's maiden name was Clara 
Eugenia Bateman, whose mother was a ]Marks, of Pennsylvania, and whose 
father was the Rev. A. L. Sampson Bateman, a relative of former Governor 
Siunpson of Vermont and a direct descendant of Lord Bateman, who, like 
one of the ancestors of ]\Ir. Keniji. came to America on the ^Mayflower; he 
was also an uncle :^f the inventor ^\'hite, well known for his sewing ma- 
chines, and was tirst cousin of Columbus Delanii, secretarv of the interior 
under President Grant. In 1S40 Rev. Bateman was sent by the general 
Methodist conference to California, where he worked as a missionary among 
the Mormons, and was an active minister for forty-five years, till his death. 
After the death of his first wife, the mother <n" Mrs. Shannon, he married 
the widow of the noted evangelist John Inskip. Airs. Shannon was the first 
white child born in Carson City. Nevada. Mr. and Mrs. Kemp are now- 
residing in their own home, corner of Boylston avenue and John street, a 
situation which commands a fine view over part of the city and Puget Sound, 
and here they delight to entertain their numerous friends. 

WILLIAM H. LOUD. 

In the early days of the country the forefathers of this gentleman came 
from freland and settled on the New England coast. William Lord, the 
father, was born at Vassalbora. A'aine, about the year 1795. and followed 
farming in that state until 1867, when he went to Wright county. Minne- 
sota, where he li\ed with one of iiis sons till his death in 1887; his wife, 
Eunice (iardner, was born on the island of Nantucket, Massachusetts, in 
r705, and died at China. Kennebec county. Alaine. in the autumn of iSd^. 
her people being Quakers and coming from England. 



662 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

William H. Lord, the son of the abo\e parents, came into the world at 
\\assalbora, Maine, on the 23d day of July, 1835, and when he was three 
year.s old went with his parents to China, Maine, receiving his education in 
the .schools of that village. At the age of nineteen he left home and worked 
for one summer in a sawmill at (iardiner. Elaine, the f(,)llowing summer in 
a ship-yard at Damariscotta, Maine, and dvu'ing" the winter of 1855-56 was 
engaged in getting out ship timbers in Virginia, later working in a ship-yard 
in Thomaston, Maine. In the fall of 1836 he was married, and till 1859 
worked on a farm near China; he then moved to Wright county, Minnesota, 
where he worked in a sawmill until 1862. In the fall of that year he enlisted 
in the Eighth Minnesota Volunteer Infantry; his first service was on the 
western frontier under General .Sully; in October, 1864, the regiment was 
sent south to Murfreesboro Tennessee, serving in the Twenty-third Army 
Corps under General Thomas and going through to Charlotte, North Caro- 
lina, where they were discliarged in August, 1S65. He went through the 
entire war without wounds or sickness. 

After leaving the army he clerked for six months at Monticello, Minne- 
sota, and in the fall of 1867 established himself in the general merchandising 
business at Buffalo, the same state, where he lived for six years, and for four 
years acted as .sheriff' of Wright county ; in the fall of 1873 '''^ sold out, and, 
moving to Minneapolis, took a position as traveling salesman with Post & 
Davis, confectioners, remaining ^\ith tlieni for three years ; for the next three 
years Mr. Lord was working at the carpenter's trade in Wright county. It 
was in the fall of 1884 that he came to \\'ashington, locating on a section of 
railroad near Tolt. King" county : three years later, selling the improvements 
on the land, he went to Seattle, where he was a member of the police force 
for a year, then spent six months in the real estate line, and in March of 1889 
returned to Tolt. buying a general store and hotel located on the banks of the 
Snoqualmie river; this he conducted three years. He then built the Tolt 
Hotel and has ever since catered to the wants of the traveling public, his wide 
experience of aft'airs and men making him an ideal host. At the same time 
he cultivates a forty-acre tract of land in the valle}-. 

His politics are Republican, and for many years he has been influential 
in his party, in 1901 being a member of the county central committee and 
for many years having been a delegate to the state and county conventions. 
He is a member of the Falls City Lodge No. 66. A. F. & A. M. Mr. Lord 
has been twice married; in 1856. at China, Maine, he became the husband of 
Rosella Hall, who was born in that village in 1839 and died at Monticello. 
Minnesota, in the spring of 1877. leaving four children; Winslow H.. a 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 663 

contractor at Ballard, Washington; Lissett, living at Buffalo, Minnesota, 
the \\iclo\v of v. H. Cody, who died there in 1901 : Eunice, the wife of 
Charles Harvey at Monticello, Minnesota; and ^Xugusta, who died in 1880 
at the age of ten at Buffalo. Minnesota. As his second wife he took, at Al- 
bion, ^Minnesota, Eugenia Jouanne, born in Paris, France, in i860, and 
coming to this country with her parents when she was ten years old. She 
is the mother of six children : Rose, the wife of John Ogilvie, li\ing on a 
farm near Tolt; Eugene, Leon, Myrtle, Roy and Violet. 

BENJAMIN C. LEW. 

The Republican party is always glad to welcome into its ranks men of 
intelligence, energy and loyalty, and there is no one in Washington to whom 
these attributes could be more aptly applied than to Mr. Levy, one of the 
representative citizens of Seattle. Tie has taken an active part in the politi- 
cal work of the city, and for more than eleven \ears has capably filled the 
position of cashier and deputy county treasurer, having entered upon the 
duties of that office in August, 1891. He has also been a witness of most of 
the growth and development of Seattle, as he arrived here immediately after 
the fire in 1889, when it was a city of tents. 

Mr. Levy was born at Metz, France, on May i, 1847, but the family 
came to this country when he was only si.x months old, so that he is practi- 
cally a native American citizen. Fie pursued his education in the schools of 
Milwaukee and New York, and also in the College of New York in the latter 
city. He was only sixteen years of age when he enlisted as a member of 
Company A, Fourteenth United States Infantr\-. The regiment was as- 
signed to the Army of the Potomac as a part of the First Brigade, Second 
Division, Fifth Army Corps, and he participated in the battles of Kelly's 
Ford and Mine Run, after which he was sent back to the hospital at the 
headquarters at Fort Trumbull, Connecticut; after recovering his health he 
served for three months as provost guard in Richmond. At the close of the 
war the regiment was recruited at Hart's Island in New York harlxir and 
was sent by way of the Isthmus of Panama to California, arriving at San 
Francisco on. December 10, i86c. Flis discharge papers followed him, liow- 
e\er, and on the 17th of the same month he left the service. 

Mr. Levy is an ardent Republican, and in August, 1891, he was ap- 
pointed deputv county treasurer of King county, and no higher testimonial 
of his worth could be given than that he has been retained in this position 
ever since, although during six years of this period the Democratic ])arty 



664 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

was in control of the office. Socially he is connected with St. John's Lodge 
No. 9, F. & A. M., Seattle Chapter Xo. 3, R. A. M., and is a charter member 
of Rainier Council No. 1399 of the Royal Arcanum. He is likewise a mem- 
ber of John F. Miller Post No. 31, (i. A. R., of which he is commander. 

WILLIAM BEATTIE. 

F'or more than a score of years this sterling citizen and honored busi- 
ness man of Seattle has been a resident of this city, and his fortunes have 
varied with her epochs of prosperity and depression, but his steadfastness of 
purpose, indomitable energy, stanch integrity and thorough knowledge of 
the line of enterprise to which he has devoted his attention have proved 
adequate to enable him to overcome obstacles, recoup losses and win prece- 
dence as one of the successful and representative business men of the city. 
He is the senior member of the wagon manufacturing and general black- 
smithing firm of Beattie & Son, whose well equipped establishment is located 
at Nos. 1612- 14-16 Fourth avenue. 

William Beattie is a native of the state of [Michigan, having been born 
m the town of Dexter, Washtenaw county, on the 9th of February, 183.?, 
the son of Wdliam and Dorothea (Robson) Beattie, the former of whom 
was born in the highlands of Scotland and the latter in England. William 
Beattie, Sr., emigrated to Ainerica when a young man, about the year 1825, 
locating in the state of New York. In Ontario county, that state, he married 
Dorothea Robson, who had come with her parents to America when a child. 
Soon after their marriage they started for the wilds of Michigan, making 
the journey by means of team and wagon. He located in Livingston county, 
where he .secured a tract of eighty acres of heavily timbered land, subse- 
quently adding to the same until he was the owner of two hundred acres, 
which, with the assistance of his sons, he cleared and placed under cultiva- 
tion. There he passed the remainder of his life in agricultural pursuits, his 
death occurring about the year 1876. Flis first wife died in 1850, and he 
subsequently married Charlotte Emmett, who is likewise deceased. The 
father of our subject was a man of unassuming character, of inflexible in- 
tegrity and was one of the world's earnest workers, commanding unquali- 
fied confidence and esteem. In his political proclivities he was a Democrat, 
and his religious faith was that of the Methodist Episcopal church. By the 
first mari'iage there were six children, of whom four lived to attain years of 
maturity, .and nf these three sur^•i^■t. Of the four we may record that .Vrchi- 
bald, \y\v was born in New York, died in Michigan in 1899, ha\-ing attained 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 665 

a venerable age; Anna is the wife uf Andrew Sliaru, of that state; and 
James also hves in Michigan. 

W'ilHani Bealtie was reared on the old homestead farm in Livingston 
county. Michigan, early beginning to contribute his quota to the work of 
reclaiming and cultivating the same, while his educational privileges were 
such as were afforded in the district school, two miles distant from his home, 
his attendance being limited to the short winter months, as was the case 
with the average farmer boy of the locality and period. He continued to 
assist in the work of the farm until he had attained the age of eighteen years, 
when he decided to adopt the vocation of a mechanic, with which object in 
view- he entered a blacksmith shop at Howell, Livingston county, where he 
served a three years" apprenticeship and then remained for the succeeding 
four years in the employ of his instructor. Within this period, on the iSth 
of February, 1859, ^^^ ^^'^^ united in marriage to Miss jeanette Melvin, who 
was born in How-ell, a daugher of Rodney and Melvina (Sharp) Melvin, 
both of whom were natives of the state of New York. From Howell Mr. 
Beattie remo\-ed to Marshall, Michigan,- where he was engaged in the w-ork 
of his trade for tliree years, then returning to the employ of his old master in 
Howell for an equal period, thereafter passing three years in Ionia, same 
state, after which he again removed to Howell, where he purchased the entire 
business of his former employer, who was then carrying on an excellent busi- 
ness in the manufacturing of carriages and wagons, this having been before 
tlie machine work of the later years had displaced the old and reliable hand 
productions in this line. Mr. Beattie continued to conduct the enterprise suc- 
cessfully, and that his operations were of no inconsiderable scope may be 
recognized when we revert to the fact that he had in his employ about twenty 
workmen. 

Jn the year 1870 Mr. Beattie met with a most grievous loss and be- 
reavement, his wife being fatally burned by the explosion of a lamp, leaving 
him with four motherless children. He then left the three younger children 
with their maternal grandparents and, in company with his eldest son, Wal- 
ter j.. started for Sonoma county, California. Upon his arrival he engaged 
in the work of his trade at Cloverdale and there remained about three years, 
then taking passag"e for Portland, Oregon, on the ill-fated steamer Great 
Republic, which was stranded and burned on the lower Columbia river, our 
subject and his son, with the other passengers, being rescued from the wreck 
by a government boat, while several of the crew lost their lives. Mr. Beattie 
engaged iii the work of his trade at Rosel)urg, Oregon, for a time, and then, 
in Deceniber, 1880. came to Washington, spending one season in the Ruby 



666 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

Stake counti">' and then locating in Seattle, where he opened a hlacksniith 
shop and where he has ever since maintained his home. His first shop was 
located in Madison street, near Railroad avenue, and there he built up a good 
business in blacksniithing and general repair work, but he lost all that he had 
accumulated in the great fire that swept the city in 1889, his loss aggregating 
about six thousand dollars. Not daunted by this great misfortune, he opened 
business in another shop, on the site of the present Times building, and his 
enterprise was conducted with such ability and discretion that its growth 
has been very gratifying. In iqor Mr. Beattie erected his present building, 
which is two stories in height and sixty feet square, and here he is associated 
with his sons, Walter J. and Frank R.. in the conducting of a general black- 
smithing and repairing business and also the manufacture of the best grade 
of delivery wagons and heavy trucks, employment being given to a corps of 
ten capable workmen. 

In politics Mr. Beattie gives an unfaltering support to the principles of 
the Democratic party, in whose ranks he has been an active worker, having 
been a member of the county central committee and a delegate to various 
party conventions. He has never sought official preferment in the gift of his 
party since coming to Washington, but while living in Michigan he held a 
number of local offices. Fraternally he was identified with the Independent 
Order of Odd Fellows while a resident of Michigan, but has never main- 
tained active affiliation in the west. Of the four children of our subject we 
enter brief record, as follows : \A'alter J. is the junior member of the 
firm of Beattie & Son; Frank is also connected with his father in business; 
Elbert is an electrician in Seattle; and Minnie is the wife of Grant Bicer, a 
stockman of Hunter's Hot Springs, Montana. 

GEORGE W. TIBBETTS. 

The history of the lives of some men who ha\-e won success in life 
contains very little that could be termed "sensational." while that of others, 
equally successful, has so many varied and interesting phases that it is 
almost like a romance; George W. Tibbetts has had a career of unusual 
interest and he has experienced many of the ups and downs of a long course 
of public and commercial activity. His father, Daniel, was born in the 
same house as he himself, in the year 1782, of Scotch-Irish lineage, fol- 
lowed farming as an occupation, and died in 1855; his wife was of the 
same stock, was born in the same place about 1824 and died in December, 
1845, when the son George was not a year old. 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 667 

George Tibbetts was born at Acton, Maine, on January 22, 1845. 
When four years of age he went to Hve with his uncle, Josiah Wliitmore, in 
Strafford county, New Hampshire, and there received liis education in the 
pubhc schools ; but when he was fifteen years of age he ran a\\-ay from home 
and for a year worked on a farm near Great Falls, New Hampshire. At 
the age of sixteen, in July, 1861, he enlisted in Company F, Fourth New 
Hampshire Infantry, in which he served till the close of the war and re- 
enlisted as a veteran on February 20, 1864, at Morris Island, South Car- 
olina; the first three years of his service was in the Tenth Army Corps, 
Department of the South, and on leaving South Carolina he joined the 
Army of the James under General Butler. He participated in the principal 
battles of that great conflict and on the 12th of August, 1864, at the battle 
of Deep Bottom on the James river, near Richmond, he was taken prisoner, 
and for nearly a year endured all the frightful sufferings of northern soldiers 
in the prisons at Libby, Belle Isle and Salisbury. He was mustered out 
of the service as a paroled prisoner at Concord, New Hampshire, on June 
30, 1865. 

Prison life had so undermined his health that he was advised to go 
west, and so in the fall of 1865 he went to Moniteau county, Missouri, 
where he attended school for six months. He then entered into partner- 
ship with Lorain Baker, of Ohio, and they conducted a general merchandis- 
ing business in Moniteau and Morgan counties. Then selling out to his 
partner, Mr. Tibbetts for si.x months carried on a store alone at Butler, 
Bates county, Missouri ; he then went to Newtonia, Newton county, and 
became the senior member of the firm of Tibbetts, Wilson & Company, en- 
gaged in general mercantile and banking business ; this was continued until 
1870, when he disposed of his interests and moved to Clackamas county, 
Oregon, where for one year he farmed. In 1871 he bought one hundred 
and sixty acres of land in King county, ^\'ashing•ton, in Squak valley, near 
the head of Squak lake (now called Sanimamish lake), and he has made 
this his permanent home ever since. 

Mr. Tibbetts made many improvements on this place and for years 
was extensively engaged in hop-raising, dairying" and general farming, be- 
sides his own place having a number of rented farms; in 1881 he erected 
an extensive hotel and store on the farm and in 1882 established a stage 
line from Seattle to Lake Washington, thence by boat to Belmont and Lake 
Sammamish. and from there by stage to North Bend, operating in con- 
nection with the Columbia and Puget Sound Railroad ; on the completion 



668 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

of the Seattle, Lake Sliore and Eastern Railroad to North Bend in 1889 
he discontinued the stage line. In 1888, when the town of Issaquah was 
laid out. Mr. Tibbetts put up a large two-story building, and moved his 
business to this point, which was the first business house in the town and 
which for several years has been occupied by the Issaquah Coal Company. 
In 1889 he built a store at Snoqualmie, and later in company with S. D. 
Gusten erected the Cascadia Hotel and store at North Bend. In 1893, when 
in. the full enjoyment of great prosperity, the financial panic which wrecked 
so many swept away nearly all of his extensive possessions ; at that time 
besides his stores and other business interests he had about two thousand 
acres of the finest land in King county under cultivation ; his losses in hard 
cash amounted to over one hundred thousand dollars. The hard work 
and the shock resulting from the loss of the accumulation of years impaired 
his health, and for six years he practically retired from active work: but 
in 1 90 1 he started in to restore his fortunes by establishing a general store 
at Issaquah and has since enjoyed a thriving trade. Among the various 
lines that he engaged in was the dairy and hop business, from 1896 to 1903, 
being president of the Dwamish Dairy Association of King countv. and he 
shipped the first can of milk ever sent to Seattle. 

^Ir. Tibbetts has been a life-long Republican and for nearly thirty 
years has been prominent in the public affairs of King county. In 1876 
he was elected to the territorial legislature, was the first postmaster at Ren- 
ton and was justice of the peace there from 1875 to 1878, and was the 
postmaster at Squak from 1878 to 1886; in 1884 he was elected brigadier 
general of the Washington State National Guards and served for two years ; 
he was chairman of the Republican county central committee; in 1888 he 
was nominated by acclamation for representative of his state, but he de- 
clined. He was elected a member of the constitutional! convention that 
framed the state constitution in 1889: In November. 1902. he was elected 
to the house of representatives of the eighth legislative assembly of Wash- 
ington and is now a member. 

In 1899 he was elected department conmiander of the Grand Army 
of the Republic for Washington and Alaska, which he had helped organize 
in 1878. being the first senior \-ice commander of Stevens Post No. i. at 
Seattle. He joined the ]\Iasonic order at Falls City. Washington, in 1890, 
was a charter member and one of the organizers of IMyrtle Lodge at Issa- 
quah in 1899. 'ii'"^' holds membership in the Scottish Rite chapter of the 
order at Seattle. In 1883 he joined Harmony Lodge, Knights of Pythias, 
at Seattle and transferred to Triangle Lodge at Issaciuah in 1888, being 





^^z^^l^-t^-L-£^ 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 669 

a charter member also of tlie Rathhone Sisters. In 1S75, he became a 
member of Olive Branch Lodge of tiie Independent Order of Odd Fel- 
lows at Seattle and demitted to Gillman Lodge at Issaquah in 1S89, being- 
past chief patriarch of Unity Encampment Xo 2. of Seattle, and member 
of Rebecca Lodge at Issaquah. He belongs to the Order of Washington- 
at Issaquah. 

On March 11, 1868, at Carthage. Jasper county. Missouri, Mr. Tib- 
betts became the husband of Rebecca A. Wilson, who was born in Moniteau 
county of that state on August 15, 1849. ^nd was the daughter of S. W. 
Wilson, a prominent farmer of that county. Of the seven children born 
to tliem, three are now living: Ida M., who is the wife of John M. Goode, 
a merchant at Noah Bend, was born in the first log cabin built in Squak 
valley, made historical by the murder of the Castro family there on No- 
vember 7, 1864; the cabin was built by Thomas Russel in 1863. George 
W'ilson was born at Renton, W'ashington, on June 18. 1877. was educated 
in th.e schools at Issaquah. and until 1897 remained at home, a valuable 
assistant in his father's business ; in that year he and his brother-in-law, 
John M. Goode, made a trip to Alaska with a lot of goods which they dis- 
posed of so advantageously that the)- returned and in 1899 bought the 
store and hotel at North Bend which had been established by Gusten and 
Tibbetts in i8gi : he is now the postmaster at that place. Fred S.. the 
youngest son, is in business with his father at Issaquah. 

GEORGE JAMES. 

George James is the senior member and manager of the \ ariety Iron 
\\'orks Company, iron founders and manufacturers. This business was 
established by Mr. fames in 1889 and has been under his control since that 
time. In 1890 it w:'.s incorporated. Mr. James continuing as manager. The 
enter])rise has become one of the most representati\-e of the industrial inter- 
ests of the northwest. All the products of the factory are of a superior grade, 
both in casting and manufacturing. 

The width of the continent separates Mr. James from the jjlace of his 
birth, for he is a native of New York city, born on September 17, 1858. of a 
family of English lineage. Alfred James, his father, was a native of Eng- 
land, but becoming a lover of civil liberty he joined a charter movement in 
England and because of this was obliged to !ca\e his native land and come 
to America. He was married in London to Miss Martha Porch, whose 
father was a celebrated artist : the one child born to them in London, .\drian 



670 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

Rienzie. is now in New York city. Thirteen children were added to the fam- 
il\' circle in America's metropolis, where for a number of years the father 
was a prominent merchant tailor. He was ever a lover of liberty and op- 
posed to oppression in every form, and the first Cuban rebellion was planned 
in his house, and he became a filibuster and went to Cuba in 1869. Their 
ship, the Hornet, was captured by the United States authorities while coaling 
at Wilmington, North Carolina, and he then returned home, where he died 
from the effects of a surgical operation made necessary by ill health. Of the 
fourteen children in his family eight are now living, and his wife also sur- 
vives him in the seventieth year of her age. 

George James was educated in New York and learned his trade in that 
city, after which he engaged in business there and later in Chicago. He 
arrix'ed in Seattle in October, 1889, with seven and a half dollars in his 
pocket. He had not enough money to bring his wife antl two children with 
him from Chicago, but he had earned enough within six weeks in this thriv- 
ing city of the northwest to send for them, and it was a happy meeting when 
they reached him in his new home on the Pacific coast. He had been mar- 
ried in 1877 to Miss Mary McCastland. Charles, George and Maude were 
born to them in Chicago, Fred, who was born in Chicago, is dead, and Min- 
nie, born in Seattle, is also deceased. His good wife, who passed with him 
through all the early trials and was ever an able assistant, departed this life 
on October 17, 1900. This had been a happy married life, covering a period 
of twenty-three years, and her loss was most deeply felt by husband and 
children. 

Mr. James' path to success in this city was not a flowery one, although 
it started out in a promising manner. He secured a position with a firm in 
Ballard, but not long afterward his employers failed, and he then began work 
for the Washington Iron Works, but was forced to leave because he was not 
a re,'=ident molder, although he was a member of the union, their opposition 
being because he was an eastern man. He then found a man who had a 
little shop in the woods, and there he began the manufacture of iron special- 
ties in plumbing goods. The next seven months was a hard struggle, but at 
the end of that time a gentleman bought out Mr, James' partner, and the 
Dwyer Manufacturing Company was organized. After they had conducted 
tliis for twenty months they built the present plant on the tide flats. In 1894 
Charles Mulcahey purchased the interests of the Dwyer Brothers, and with 
Mr. James' interests organized the Variety Iron Works, and under this ar- 
rangement it grew in volume as the city increased in population. J. B. C. 
Lockwood finally purchased ]\Ir. ]\Iulcahey's interest, and the business was 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 671 

then enlarged, and under the direction of Mr. James they branched out into 
the manufacture of machinery and did jobbing work. The shop was 
equipped for a hea\y class of work and success attended the enterprise. A 
little later Air. Lockwood sold his interest to Charles Fleehart, and after 
some months Mr. James purchased the latters interest. Some time laier he 
sold a half interest to the Puget Sound Machinery Company, and the busi- 
ness was incorporated with J. H. Perkins as president, Thomas Green as 
secretary, and Air. James as manager. From the time of the incorporation 
the business of the house has steadily increased in volume, and they now 
manufacture all kinds of the heaviest work in iron, and have placed machin- 
ery in many of the leading business blocks of the city and a number of saw- 
mills in the state and .furnished the iron construction for many of the county 
bridges. Their trade extends all over the state and even into other states. 
Mr. James has prospered with the growth of the enterprise and with the 
growth of the city, and as his financial resources have been enlarged he has 
made judicious investments, until he now owns considerable city property, 
including various tide-land lots and residences. The company's plant, which 
is located on the tide flats at 1241 to 1^45 Utah street, covers two full lots, 
and is one of the best equipped in the northwest. 

Mr. James is a member of the Modern Woodmen of the World and of 
the Manufacturer's Association. He is an expert molder, thoroughly reliable 
in business, a good citizen, and is deeply interested in the welfare of Seattle. 
His career is certainly a creditable and honorable one, for in the face of op- 
position, meeting untold dit^culties and obstacles, he has steadily advanced, 
and to-day stands among the prosperous men of the northwest, enjoying 
success and also the respect and confidence of all with \vhom he comes in 
contact. 

C, E. JOHNSON. 

C. E. Johnson has always resided upon the Pacific coast, and the true 
spirit of western progress and advancement is exemplified in his career. He 
was born in \\'oodland. California, May 8, 1866, a son of Corbley and Jennie 
(Pool) Johnson, the former born in Ohio in 1825 and the latter in Indiana 
in 18^5. In early life" the father engaged in merchandising, following that 
pursuit in Ohio, Indiana. \\'isconsin, Kansas and Texas. In the early six- 
ties he went to ^Voodland, California, and later to Paso Robles, where he 
lias since been engaged in farming, he and his wife still residing there. 

In the public schools of his native state C. E. Johnson acquired his early 



672 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

education, wliich was supplemented b}' study in the University of Southern 
Cahfornia at Los Angeles, where he was graduated in the class of 1883. 
Through the three succeeding years he was engaged in farming in San Luis 
Obispo county, California, and from 1887 until 1890 he made his home in 
Los Angeles. In the latter year and in 1891 he worked for the Electric 
Improvement Company at San Jose, California, and from 1891 until 1900 
was with the construction department of the Edison Electric Light & Power 
Company of San Francisco. In May of the latter year he came to Seattle 
to accept a position with the Seattle Electric Company, and in September, 
1901, he took charge of the sulj-station of the Snoqualmie Falls Power Com- 
pany at Issaquah. acting as patrolman from Iventon to the falls, a distance of 
nineteen miles. 

I\Ir. Johnson is an active worker in the Republican ranks and was ap- 
pointed police judge by the Issaquah town council in January, 1902. He is 
always interested in everything pertaining to the welfare and improvement 
of the town and has co-operated in many movements for the general welfare 
of the community. In San Francisco, in 1897, Mr. Johnson was united in 
marriage to Miss Elmira Scofield, who was born in \\^fitsonville, California, 
and they have one child, Dorothy, aged four years. 

CHARLES H. BEBB. 

Charles H. Bebb, of the firm of Belih & Mendel, is one of the leading 
architects of Seattle and a man whose standing in the business community 
might well be envied. His Avork is of the highest order, and when he under- 
takes a commission it is a guarantee that it will be conscientiously performed. 
He first came to Seattle in 1890, as supervising architect for the firm of 
Adler & Sullivan, of Chicago, to take charge of the construction of an opera 
house and hotel building that was projected for the corner of Second avenue 
and University street, but the plan was not consummated, owing to the 
failure of Baring Brothers. Returning to Chicago, he remained with 
Messrs. Adler & Sullivan as head superintendent until the fall of 1893, when 
he was again induced to come to Seattle, accepting the position of archi- 
tectural engineer with the Denny Clay Company, who at that time enlarged 
their plant by the establishment of a branch for the manufacture of archi- 
tectural terra cotta. He remained with the firm for five years. 

A native of England, Mr. Bebb was bom in Surrey, April 10, 1858T 
After passing through King's College, London, and a preparatory school in 
Switzerland, he passed into the University at Lausanne, but soon afterward 





'-e-*^. /7b e# 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 673 

retLirned to London to a private tutor. He ne.xt took up a course of civil 
engineering at the School of Mines, Ijut hefore his graduation went to South 
Africa, where he was connected for five years with the engineering depart- 
ment of the Cape government railways in the western division. A tempo- 
rary cessation of construction was the cause of his return to England, and 
it was shortly afterward that he decided to come to Chicago, having in project 
a position with the Illinois Central Railroad, then heing built in Texas. 
Upon arriving in Chicago, however, and studying the then existing con- 
ditions he felt that better opportunities existed in that city than railroad 
work in Texas might offer. It was just about this time that the modern 
high steel construction fire-proof building was e\olving, the art of fire- 
proofing as applied to buildings being in its primitive stages. The subject 
was one that might well have appealed to any engineer, and it appealed to 
him forcibly and at once. He became connected with the Illinois Terra 
Cotta Lumber Company, and in a very short time was appointed construc- 
tion engineer for the firm, with full charge of all their work. The part 
taken by this company under his management in the development of fire- 
proof construction is well known in the middle west. It was a question in 
those days not of securing work, which was plentiful, but of making a rec- 
ord of thorough and practical efficiency in the manner and methods of 
carrying out the work, so that it might be said of any of the fire-proof build- 
ings that the last one built was most practically fire-proof. Air. Bebb de- 
voted all the thought and energy- of an active mind in this direction, and 
in i<S88, when the contract for the fire-proofing of the great Chicago Audi- 
torium was awarded to 'his company through his individual exertions, he 
appreciated fully the reward of his efforts, this contract being the largest of 
its kind at that time ever awarded in this or any other country. The Chamber 
of Commerce building and the Monon block are others among a long list 
of important buildings fire-proofed under his direction. In addition to his 
regular work he contributed articles to the technical press, among- them being 
a i>ai3er entitled "b'ire Losses in Fire-proof Buildings," issued in the Engi- 
neering Magazine in February, 1893. which received general comment 
throughout the country and is being reprinted in Europe and Australia. 

When the Chicago Auditorium was nearing completion Mr. Bebb re- 
ceived an offer from the architects of the building, Messrs. Adler & Sullivan, 
which he felt would be to his advantage to accept, and he assumed the duties 
of superintending architect in their office. During the years he was with 
them he had full charg-e of their important work, among- which may be men- 
tioned the Schiller Theatre, the Crane Elevator Company's factorv, the 



674 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

foundations lor the Cold Storage Exchange, the Synagogue on Thirty-first 
and Indiana avenue, the Wright & Hill's Linseed Oil Company's plant, the 
Meyer building and many others. It was to take charge of the projected 
Seattle Theatre building for the same company that Mr. Bebb first came to 
tliis city. Opening an office of his own as an architect in 1898 in the West- 
ington block, Seattle, his efticiency in his profession and his thorough busi- 
ness methods soon became established, and his patronage increased rapidly. 
Among a partial list of the many fine residences constructed from plans from 
his office are those owned by Frank W. Baker, Judge Harrison Bostwick, 
Miss Lenora Denny, James U. Hoge, Clarence Hanford, H. A. Kyer, Daniel 
Kelleher, N. B. Nelson, Dr. James Shannon, Dr. George M. Horton, Fred 
S. Stinson, Albert S. Kerry. Charles Frye and Mrs. J. F. Nadean. while 
among the business blocks are the new Times building, the Denny building, 
the A. VV. Denny building, and in course of construction the five-story Se- 
attle Athletic Club building and the six-story office building on Second avenue 
for Messrs. Hamon & Schmitz, also the factory building for the Pacific Coast 
Syrup Company of San Francisco, the large printing establishment for 
Tucker Hanfor, covering a ground area of one hundred and twenty by one 
hundred and twenty feet, and the Colonial Hotel for Stinson Brothers. A 
list of these buildings, while incomplete, indicates the character of his work 
and evidences the fact that he enjoys to a large degree the confidence and 
respect of the public. In 1901 he took into partnership Louis L. Mendel. 
In Chicago, Illinois, shortly after his arrival in this country, Mr. Bebb 
was married to Virginia R. Burns, a daughter of Dr. A. P. Burns of Ellicott 
City, Maryland, and they have one son. In politics Mr. Bebb is a Repub- 
lican, but his business interests give him n* time for active political work. 
A prominent Mason, he belongs to Arcana Lodge No. 87, F. & A. M., Wash- 
ington Lodge of Perfection No. i, Washington Chapter of Rose Croiz, 
Washington Council of the Knights of Kadosh, and Lawson Consistory 
No. I. He is likewise connected with Afifi Temple of the Mystic Shrine at 
Tacoma. He is a member of the American Institute of Architects, is presi- 
dent of the Washington State Chapter of the American Institute of Vrchi- 
tects, belongs to the Chamber of Commerce, is secretary of the Seattle Ath- 
letic Club and is a member of the University Club and the Tennis Club. 
The profession with which he is identified deserves to be ranked among the 
arts. It demands superior qualifications, a thorough understanding of me- 
chanical principles combined with artistic knowledge and taste, and these 
should be supplemented by keen executive ability and foresight. In ail these 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 675 

qualities Mr. Bebb is well equipped, and thus through his own efforts he has 
gained a reputation in the field of his chosen labor that is hardly second to 
any on the Pacific coast. 

EDMUND BOWDEN. 

Edmund Bowden is of English ancestry, his birth having occurred in 
Britisli Columbia on the 28th of August, i860. His father, William Bowden, 
was born in Belfast, in the north of Ireland, was married in England and 
in 1S58 emigrated to the new world, locating in British Columbia. He 
was chief of police there for fifteen years, and was a valued and leading 
member of the Masonic fraternity. Of his family of nine children only five 
are now living, and Mr. Bowden of this review is the only member of the 
family now living in Washington. 

Edmund Bowden was educated in the public schools of British Colum- 
bia, completing his studies in the schools of Victoria. He has made his 
own way in the world, and the splendid success he has achieved indicates 
his excellent business ability and force of character. He first learned teleg- 
raphy, and was a very capable operat(jr, so that he was enabled to com- 
mand good positions. He continued in that business for a number of years, 
and during a part of the time was manager of the Western Union Tele- 
graph Company at Walla Walla. In 188S he came to Seattle and turned 
his attention to the real estate business and made insurance a department 
of the new venture. He also began loaning money for eastern capitalists, 
and placed about two million dollars in Seattle to rebuild the city after the 
great fire of 1889. He has represented the Atlas Assurance Company of 
London for eight years, and has done his full share in the insurance busi- 
ness of the city. He is now extensively engaged in buying and selling real 
estate in Seattle, which he handles on his own account. His success in the 
other lines of his business has enabled him to make judicious investments 
in real estate, and he is now the owner of much valuable property. 

In 1882 Mr. Bowden was united in marriage to Miss .\ngie Burt, of 
Walla Walla, Washington, and they now have two children: Edmund R. 
and William Burt. Mr. Bowden is a prominent Republican in his politi- 
cal views, and in his social relations is connected with Arcana Lodge No. 
87, F. &: A. M.. in which he took the degree of a Master Mason in 1895. 
He is a past master of the blue lodge, and has received all the degrees 
of the Scottish Rite up to and including tlie thirty-third, and has accept- 
ablv filled most of the offices in the order. He is a thoroughly informed 



676 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

Mason and one of the best workers in the craft in this city. He is also 
a prominent member of the Knights of Pythias fraternity and is chairman 
of the judiciary committee of the grand lodge of the state and chairman of 
the board of trustees of Queen City T.odge Xo. 10, K. of P., of Seattle. He is 
also secretary of the associate board of trustees of the organization and is 
master of the Lodge of Perfection of the Scottish Rite Masons and treas- 
in-er of iVrcana Lodge, F. & A. ]M. He is a valued member of the Seattle 
Athletic Club, and with his family attentls St. ^^lark's Episcopal church. 
]\lr. Bowden has contributed in no small measure to the upbuilding and 
im])ro\ement of Seattle, and is one of the highly respected residents of the 
city, in which he and his wife have a wide and favorable acquaintance. 

CHARLES V. O'BRIEN. 

There are few men in whose life history losses and successes have fol- 
lowed in such rapid succession as in the career of Charles V. O'Brien, but to- 
day he is known as one of the capitalists of the Sound country, his invest- 
ments being so judiciously placed that they yield to him an excellent return, 
and his income is now a gratifying one. 

Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, April 5. ]8~g. he is a son of Ambrose 
and Isabelle (Chisem) O'Brien, both of whom were natives of Canada. 
The father was a shipbuilder at Maitland, on the ba}- of Fundy. and became 
well known in that line of business. Fie still resides in Nova Scotia, at the 
age of seventy-seven years, while his wife is sixty-seven years of age. Al- 
though he led an active business life, he was never prominent in politics, pre- 
ferring that his undivided attention be given to his ship-building interests. 

The eldest of a family of seven children. Charles V. O'Brien was reared 
in his native countrv' and acquired but a limited education, for from the age 
of ten years he spent most of his time in the forests in the lumber and logg- 
ing camps. At the early age of sixteen he engaged in logging contract 
work on his own account and followed that pursuit until his twenty-fourth 
year. He then left his native country and in the spring of 1883 came to 
Washington in order to engage in business amitl the great forest districts 
of the northwest. He followed logging on Discover)' bay in the employ of 
others, and when he had saved fifteen hundred dollars of his earnings began 
business on his own account, but he lost all that he had made through a fresh- 
et which swelled the waters of Salt creek until they carried away all his logs. 
The next year Frank Clapp furnished him with funds to enable him to re- 
sume operations, from which he cleared six thousantl dollars, but in the turn 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 677 

of fortune's wheel he was again the loser, for he lost that sum in real estate 
transactions. Not yet disheartened, he again engaged in logging one season 
with fair success, and the following year engaged in street-grading contract 
work in Seattle, having in his employ one hundred men and forty teams. 
He followed that l)usiness for two years, during whicii lime he cleared seven- 
ty-five thousand dollars, but this was also lost in real estate speculation. 
Once more he started at the bottom of the financial ladder, and he started in 
again to earn his living as a teamster in a logging camp, but a man of such 
resolute spirit and unfaltering energy could not long remain in such a posi- 
tion. He eagerly w-atched for a business opportunity of which he might 
take advantage, and found one in 1897 when he went to Alaska, outfitting a 
pack train of thirty horses, but in three months he lost them all. In the au- 
tumn of the same year he purchased a train of one hundred and fifteen pack 
animals and took a contract from the Canadian government to transport all 
government supplies from Skagway to Lake Bennett and other interior 
points. For twt) years Mr. O'Brien was engaged in that work, making his 
headquarters at Skagway. The business proved profitable, enabling him to 
make a new start on the highroad to success. While residing there he was 
also elected a member of the city council, but resigned preparatory to return- 
ing to Seattle, in August, 1899. 

After the time spent in the north he made a tour of the east, visiting 
Chicago, Washington, New York, and his old home in Nova Scotia, spend- 
ing nine months in travel. On the expiration of that period he returned to 
this state and began logging on the Columbia river, following that pursuit 
for a year and a half, when he sold out. and for six months was not connected 
with anv business enterprise. He has in\ested largely in city property in 
Seattle and now owns the fine three-story Hat building at the corner of b'ifth 
avenue and Lenora street, and has other improved property here, the rental 
from which furnishes him with a very gratifying income. His perse\-er- 
ance, his adaptability to circumstances, his strong determination and un- 
faltering courage, have been the means of enabling him to overcome ob- 
stacles and difliculties which have beset his \mih and to push iiis way steadily 
forward to prosperity. 

In politics Mr. O'Brien is a Republican, and socially is connected with 
the I'raternal Order of Artie Brotherhood. On October 6. 1887. he was 
married to ]\liss Jeanne Dick, of Clallam county, Washington, a daughter of 
James B. and Margaret (Dewar) Dick. Mrs. O'Brien was born in Indiana 
and her jiarcnts were natives of Cardift". Scotland. At an early da_\- they 
jjecfmc residents of Dungcness. Clallam county, where .Mr. Dick became well 



678 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

known and prominent in business and public life. His wife is now living at 
Port Angeles, Washington. Mr. and Mrs O' Brien have had four children, 
but three died in childhood. One daughter, Margaret, named in honor of her 
grandmother, is now living. Mr. O'Brien has had a checkered and eventful 
career, during which time he has traveled extensively over the north part of 
this continent from the Atlantic to the Pacific. His fortunate tendency of 
looking upon the bright side, even in the face of discouragements, and an- 
ticipating a more encouraging future, combined with good business judg- 
ment, has won for him a desirable position among the capitalists of his 
adopted city and state. 

ROBERT O. SMITH. 

Robert O. Smith is a member of the firm of R. O. Smith & Company, 
real estate dealers of Seattle. He was born in Barton county, Missouri, 
January 6, 1870, his parents being W. C. and N. J. (Jones) Smith. Upon 
his father's farm in the county of his nativity he was reared, and acquired a 
common school education. At the age of nineteen he left home, going to 
Kansas City, where he entered the employ of the street car company, acting 
as a gripman and conductor for several years. He was afterward engaged 
in the real estate business in Kansas City for a time and in 1891 came to 
Seattle, attracted by the great and growing northwest, believing that in its 
business opportunities he would have better advanages for securing the suc- 
cess which is the goal toward which all business men are striving. For ten 
months he was engaged in various employments, and then returned to Lib- 
eral, Missouri, where he eng"ag"ed in the hay. grain and feed business and also 
followed farming and stock dealing for three years. In 1895, however, he 
again came to Seattle and through the succeeding year conducted a creamery 
at Avon, Washington. On the expiration of that period he again came to 
this city and accepted a position in the employ of Lilly, Bogardus & Company 
for two years. Next he entered the employ of Mitchell, Lewis & Staver, 
having charge of their machinery department for one year. In August, 
1900, he became associated with C. D. Hillman, a prominent real estate 
dealer of Seattle, under the firm name of Hillman & Company. jMr. 
Smith has established a reputation as a reliable and successful real 
estate dealer and has demonstrated his ability as a salesman. Associ- 
iated with Mr. Hillman, he became actively interested in real estate transac- 
tions in the vicinity of Green Lake, and during that time assisted in the sale 
of four thousand lots included in the Kilbourn. the Flillman and the Hill- 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 679 

man's School additions, also the Woodlanil Park addition, the Green Lake 
Borne addition and Hillman's Lake Front addition. In May, 1902, Mv. 
Smith severed his connection with Mr. Hillman and established his present 
business, and has already secured a large and gratifying- clientage in general 
real estate transactions. He handles timber lands, lots, houses, and attends 
to rental investments, and, in fact, does all kinds of business included within 
a general real estate enterprise. 

On the 23d of February, 1892, Tilr. Smith was united in marriage in 
Missouri to Miss Effie Nichols, a daughter of John PI. Nichols, and they now 
have three interesting children, Clarence, Jessie and Earl. In his political 
views Mr. Smith is an earnest Republican and is quite prominent in fraternal 
organizations. He belongs to the Knights of the Maccabees, to the Wood- 
men of the World and to Green Lake Lodge No. 184, of the Fraternal Broth- 
erhood, of which he is now treasurer. He is one of the active and enterpris- 
ing young business men of Seattle. His is a genial and pleasing personality, 
and he has made a large circle of friends. 

WILLIAM McLACHLAN. 

A nati\-e of Scotland, William McL.aclilan well represents the sturdy 
thrift and unexcelled honor of the sons of that portion of Great Britain.- 
His father was a native of Scotland, and his grandfather also, the latter, 
Daniel [McLachlan having been born at In\emess, where he was married to 
:\Iary McDowd, also of Scotch descent. They came with their children to 
Canada, where the remainder of their li\es were spent, Daniel McLachlan 
having taken up crown land, which he improved to a high state of cultivation. 
Lie died at the ripe old age of eighty-eight years. To this worthy couple 
were born the following children: Charles, Malcolm, John Daniel. Alex- 
ander. ?ilary, Clemina and Nancy. 

Our subject was third in a family of five children born to Malcolm and 
Jane (Kirkwood) McLachlan. Daniel, the oldest, is governor of the In- 
dian agency in Victoria, British Columbia; Robert K., the second in order of 
birth, is engaged in farming; William is the immediate subject of this re- 
view : Margaret is the wife of William Douglas, and lives in Canada ; Marv, 
the youngest, is the wife of Alexander Crawford and also resides in Canada. 
Ry a second marriage, with Christina McDonald, :\lalcolm McLachlan be- 
came the father of six children, as follows: Duncan, president and founder 
of Chalam College in Ontario: John, deputy sheriff of Ottawa. Canada: 
Alexander, who is a missionary, having been president for ten vears of the 



68o REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

boai'd of missions ; Charles, a physician of New Rockford, North Dakota ; 
Malcolm, a professor in a college in Grand Rapids, Michigan ; and James, 
wlio also lives in New Rockford, North Dakota. 

William McLachlan was born of the marriage of Malcolm McLachlan 
to Jane Kirkwood, September 8, 1831, in Ontario, Canada. Here he lived 
on a farm with his parents, engaging in the pleasures and hardships of the 
average Canadian bov, and receiving his education in the common schools 
that the country afforded. Air. McLachlan remained with his father on 
the farm, and in this C(jnnection they also conducted a \'ery lucrative dairy 
business. In 1S78 he removed to the island of San Juan, where he engaged 
in the lime business, founding the Eureka Lime Company. His brother 
Daniel was connected with him in this enterprise, which yielded them an 
ample competence until they .sold out, four years later. William McLachlan 
then came to Seattle, where he has since been engaged in the house-moving 
business. The firm name of McLachlan & Son, at 142 1 Sixth avenue, was 
adopted in 1898, \\hen his son Thomas E. became a partner. He is also 
interested in Seattle real estate, being owner of four handsome residence lots 
on Lenora a\-enue, besides the beautiful and \\-ell impro\ed property where 
his residence stands. 

On January i, 1873, occurred the marriage of William ^McLachlan and 
■Lillian Cox, daughter of Thomas and Nancy (Campbell) Cox. To this 
happy couple have been born two children, Thomas E., before mentioned as 
a partner with his father: and Etta W., an intelligent and accomplished 
young lady, a graduate of the city schools and the commercial college. In 
politics Mr. McLachlan is a stanch Republican, never swerving in his allegi- 
ance to his party. He is a \-alued member of the First Presbyterian church 
of Seattle, and a charter member of Columbia Lodge No. 2, A. O. C W. 
He is honest and. upright in all his dealing's, and well deserves the success 
which has crowned his efforts. 

CHARLES E. REMSBERG. 

As a member of the firm of Remsberg cS: Simmonds, the subject of this 
review is practicing law in Seattle, where he located in 1889, soon after the 
great fire. He was born in Warren county, Indiana, May 20, 1863, and 
traces his ancestry. back to Adam Remsberg, who during the period of the 
Revolutionary w?ir located in what is now known as Washington county, 
Pennsylvania. The line of descent is traced down through John Remsberg, 
Sr., John Remslierg. Jr., and Lewis Remsberg, the last named being the 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 68 1 

father of otir subject. Lewis was born in Frederick county, Maryland, and 
in 1859 moved westward, locating in Indiana. In his native state he wedded 
Rebecca Brandenburg, a daughter of Samuel Brandenburg, and a grand- 
daughter of John Brandenburg, who was born in this country but was of 
German parentage. Our subject is the youngest in a family of five children, 
the others all being daughters. Both parents are still living in Warren 
county, Indiana, the father at the age of eighty years and the mother at the 
age of seventy-nine. With the exception of the youngest sister the children 
also survive. 

In the district schools Charles E. Remsberg pursued his education until 
he was fourteen years of age and afterward devoted his entire time and 
attention to the work of the home farm until he had attained the age of 
twenty. One of his sisters having been ill for a long time, it was believed 
that traveling would prove beneficial to her, and Charles accompanied her on 
a trip to the east, through Maryland, Washington and New York. This 
caused him to realize the need of further education, and in the fall of 1882 
he went to the Terre Haute Normal School. After completing one year's 
work he engaged in teaching for two years and then spent a period of two 
more years in the normal. Later he entered the University of Indiana at 
Bloomington, making a specialty of the study of sociology. Lie completed 
his course in 1889 and intended to go to Charlottesville, Virginia, to pursue 
his law course, but events occurred that occasioned him to seek a home in 
the northwest, and he arrived in Seattle in 1889. 

Mr. Remsberg was much impressed with the business outlook here and 
deciding to remain he engaged in the real estate business and also began 
reading law in this city, being admitted to the bar in 1893. He has since 
engaged in practice, and in February, 1898, entered into partnership with 
George Simmonds under the firm name of Remsberg & Simmonds. While 
he has been engaged in general practice, his law work has been largely in 
the probate court. He was one of the three lawyers who published the re- 
vised statutes and code of the state of Washington in 1896, a work of much 
value to the members of the profession and one which has been accepted as 
authority. Mr. Remsberg was engaged in this task for two years, and 
although the work did not prove a financial success, owing to the great 
money panic in which the country was involved at that time, the volume is 
one that has elicited the highest commendation of the leading members of 
the bar not only in Washington but throughout the country. Mr. Remsberg 
has been connected with much important litigation. He was one of the 
counsel in the damage case of S. P. Dixon against the Third Street Railway 



682 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

Company. Tliis was tried twice in the supreme court of the state and then 
was taken to the supreme court of the United States and in each instance 
Mr. Remsberg won a verdict favorable to his chent. Other very important 
litigation has been conducted by him and he stands to-day as one of the noted 
lawyers of the Seattle bar, strong in his comprehensive knowledge of juris- 
prudence, logical in his deductions and forceful in his presentation of a case. 

Voting with the Republican party, Mr. Remsberg has attended almost 
all of the city and county conventions since his arrival here, and his opinions 
carry weight in the Republican councils. From 1890 until 1894 he served 
as justice of the peace, and thereby acquired the title of judge, by which 
he is universally known. Fraternally he is connected with the Independent 
Order of Odd Fellows and he belongs to the Chamber of Commerce at Seattle. 

In 1891 Mr. Remsberg returned to Indiana and was there married to 
Belle Farquhar, a daughter of A. H. and Esther Farquhar. They have two 
daughters, Mabel and Helen. ]\Ir. Remsberg was one of the first settlers 
in the northern part of this city, where Fremont now stands, and was one 
of the chief factors in having the bridge constructed- along the west shore 
at Lake Union. When he located there the only highway was a country 
road, and his influence has been very great and beneficial to the substantial 
development and improvement of that part of the city. In 1902 he erected 
a nice home on a five-acre tract on the shore of Green Lake, known as "The 
Farquharidge." He has loaned much money in Seattle for eastern and other 
clients and to a considerable extent has made investments on his own ac- 
count in both business and residence property. He has erected two busjness 
blocks here and his labors have been effective in promoting public progress 
along lines of business improvement. He is a member of the Unitarian 
church, and possessing excellent musical ability his services in this direction 
have proved of pleasure and benefit to the church. Perhaps the art of music 
furnishes him his most desirable and pleasurable recreation from the strenu- 
ous cares of important business undertakings and an extensive and growing 
law practice. 

JOHN D. S^IITH. 

fohn D. Smith, a retired capitalist residing at 60 t Garfield avenue. 
Queen Anne Hill, Seattle, lias passed the eightieth mile-stone on Hfe's jour- 
ney and may well look with pleasure and pride on the long and successful 
career from the time when he started as a poor boy and aided only by his 
honest purpose to succeed, until now when he ranks as one of tlie wealthiest 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 683 

and most influential men of Seattle. Mr. Smith is the son of John and 
Lavinia (Prouty) Smith, hoth of New England birth and early settlers of 
Kentucky, the father being an extensive farmer of Greenup county, where he 
lived and died. John, Jr., first saw the light of day on his father's farm in 
Greenup county, Kentucky, on the 3d day of June, 1822 ; he was left mother- 
less at the age of ten and two years later passed out from under the paternal 
roof, and until he was eighteen years of age worked on a farm. He then 
went to New York city and learned the clockmaker's trade at a shop on 
Maiden Lane, his part of the business being to put the clocks together at 
eight cents apiece; he spent two years at this and in 1842, when twenty years 
of age, moved west to Guernsey county, Ohio, where he engaged in farming 
and running a store. There on July 15, 1845, he was married to Margaret 
McClelland, a native of Pennsylvania; he continued in the merchandise line 
at Point Pleasant, Guernsey county, until the death of his wife in 1852. 
After this sad bereavement he left his only child, John C, with its grand- 
parents AlcClelland, and for four years engaged in the fur trade, traveling 
throughout the wilds of the Lake Superior region in Canada, Michigan and 
Wisconsin. He met with satisfactory results and then settled at Lincoln, 
Nebraska, making that a base of operations for a large cattle business ; every 
year he drove one or two droves of from fi\-e to nine hundred cattle each 
through from Texas : he also engaged in buying and shipping grain from 
Lincoln to Chicago and St. Louis. He remained, in all, about thirteen years 
in Lincoln. 

In 1876 Mr. Smith came to Seattle. Here he engaged in land and real 
estate transactions, acquiring about twenty-two hundred acres of land. In 
1S85 he platted what is now known as the France addition of Seattle and 
later sold the tract to Martin France, whose name it bears; in i8go he laid 
out the third motor addition of the city. He has done much in building and 
improving the city ; he has built four houses on L'nion street, five on Stewart 
and Seventh and four on Qvteen Anne. He was the first man to purchase 
lots in the Biglow addition of Queen Anne Hill, and here in 1890 he erected 
his beautiful home, a three-story residence with basement antl with a \eranda 
entirely around each of two stories ; from one of these is to be obtained a 
magnificent view of the scenic region of Puget Sound, and off to the south 
the snow-cajjped grandeur of Mount Rainier is visible. Mount Baker also 
being seen in its purple splendor; an excellent view of the city of Seattle is 
also to be had. Here Mr. Smith enjoys receiving his friends and takes 
pleasure in showing them the points of interest. 

Just before removing to Nebraska in 1S63 he was married a second time, 



684 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

his wife being Margaret Stubbs, a native of Canada ; to them were born 
three children, May, Charles and George, all of whom died before reaching 
maturity. John C, his son by his first wife, is a well known and respected 
citizen of the suburb of Fremont. In politics Mr. Smith is a Democrat; he 
served two very successful terms as a member of the Nebraska state legis- 
lature and was active in securing the removal of tlie state capitol from Om- 
aha to Lincoln ; since coming to Seattle he has taken no part in political 
matters. Fraternally he is a Master Mason and one of the oldest members 
in the state, having joined that order sixty years ago. It may be truly said 
of him that he is a self-made man, for he started in life without money and 
among strangers, and without accepting help from anyone has made himself 
master of his destiny; now in the fulness of his years he occupies a place of 
h(jnor among his fellow men. 

ROBERT E. CARTER. 

Prominently and successfully identified with a line of industrial en- 
terprise which has important bearing upon the material advancement of any 
community, the subject of this review is one of the leading contractors and 
builders of the city of Seattle, having his shop and office at 713 Thii^d avenue 
and his residence at 1913 East Spruce street, one of the attractive residence 
sections of the cit}'. He is recognized as one of the representative business 
riien of the city, and as such is properly given consideration in a work of this 
province. 

Mr. Carter claims the "right little, tight little isle" of England as the 
land of his nativity, having been Ijorn in the borough and town of Bucking- 
ham, on New Year's day, 1865, the son of Robert G. and Maria Carter, both 
representatives of sterling old English families. The father of our subject 
was a building contractor in England, where he did business on an extensive 
scale and largely in a legitimately speculati\'e way, buying and improving 
town property and placing the same on the market. He is now living practic- 
ally retired from active business, in Great Marlow, Bucks county, England, 
his wife having entered into eternal rest in 1SS5. They became the parents of 
eleven children, of whom nine are living at the present time and all except 
three still reside in England. Those who came to the United States are 
Robert E., the subject of this sketch; George, who was for several years 
secretary of the Young Men's Christian Association in Seattle, where he was 
A\ell and favoral)]v known, and who is now a resident of \'ictoria. British 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 685 

Columbia; and Rosa H.. who is now tb.e wife of b'rederick Shensky, of San 
Mateo, California. 

Robert E. Carter passed bis boyhood days beneath the parental roof- 
tree and attended a boarding school in Buckingham until he had attained the 
age of fifteen years, when he entered upon an apprenticeship at the carpenter's 
trade under the effecti\e dirction of bis father, thus continuing until the age. 
of eighteen, when be went to the cit\- of London, where be worked as a 
journeyman, in the employ of William W'illett & Company, a large contract- 
ing concern, for about three years. Li 1887 he came to America, whither 
his brother George had preceded him. He did not remain long in the east, 
but came through to Seattle, where he found ample demand for his services 
in the line of bis trade. The first work which thus enlisted his attention was 
in connection with the erection of the large residence of Cyrus Walker at 
Port Ludlow. Mr. Carter continued to be employed as a journeyman until 
the great fire which destroyed so great a portion of Seattle in 1889, when the 
courageous citizens inaugurated the work of rebuilding almost before the 
ruins of business blocks and residences were yet cold, and he then engaged 
in contracting and building on his own responsibilit)'. His last work prior to 
the fire had been on the old Commercial mill, and after this disastrous conflag- 
ration his first individual contract work was in the erection of a temporary 
building for La Tour & Company. He continued to be successfully engaged 
in contracting until the panic of 1893, when all lines of business became 
greatly depressed in this section of the L^nion, and Mr. Carter was for a 
time compelled to take such employment as he could secure in order to meet 
existing exigencies, bis case being- similar to that of many others whose 
affairs' bad previoush- been in a prosperous condition, b'inally the reaction 
came and the financial depression began to abate; building enterprises were 
resumed and again our subject found it possible to engage in business as a 
contractor, and in this line he continued active operations until the year 1900, 
confining his attention chiefly to the erection of residences. For the past 
two years Mr. Carter has given his attention more particularly to the manu- 
facturing and installing of store and office fixtures and to remodeling and 
refitting store and office buildings His shop is well equipped and he is 
known as a superior mechanic and careful workman, so that be has attained 
a high reputation. 

Tn politics Mr. Carter gives his allegiance to the Republican i)arty. but 
he has never manifested any personal political ambition in the matter of 
seeking or desiring official preferment. His religious faith is that of the 
Protestant Episcopal church and he is a communicant in St. Clement's 



686 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

clnircli, of which he has served as a member of tlie vestry. Fraternall)- he is 
identified with the Ancient Order of Foresters of America, in which he is 
past cliief ranger, and with the Modern Woodmen of America, in which he 
is venerable counsel On the 28th of April, 1892, was. solemnized the mar- 
riage of Mr. Carter to Miss Anna Partin, who was born in Durham, Eng- 
land, and who came to the United States when she was a child. Mr. and 
Mrs. Carter are the parents of three children, namely : Netta May, Clyde 
R. and Gertrude A. 

LOUIS HEMRICH. 

A biographical record of the representative men of Seattle and King 
county would be incomplete and unsatisfactory without a personal and some- 
what detailed mention of those whose lives are interwoven so closely with the 
indutrial activities of this section. In the subject of this review, who is 
secretary and treasurer of the Hemrich Brothers Brewing Company, we find 
a young man of that progressive, alert and discriminating" type through 
wliich has been brought about the magnificent commercial and material de- 
velopment of the Pacific northwest, and it is with satisfaction that we here 
note the more salient points in his honorable and useful career. 

Louis Hemrich was bom in the town of Alma, Buffalo county, Wiscon- 
sin, on <:he 20th of May, 1872, a son of John and Catherine (Koeppel) 
Hemrich, the former of whom was born in Baden, Germany, and the latter 
in Bavaria. They came to America and resided in Wisconsin for a number 
of years, removing thence to Seattle when the subject of this sketch was a 
lad of about fourteen years, his rudimentary educational training having 
been secured in the public schools of his native state, while he continued his 
studies thereafter in the public schools of Seattle, where he prepared himself 
for college. At the age of eighteen years he matriculated in the University 
of Washington, where he completed a commercial course. After leaving 
scliool Mr. Hemrich took a position as bookkeeper for the Seattle Brewing 
& Malting Company, where he remained for a period of three years and was 
then elected secretary and treasurer of the company, in which capacity he 
rendered most effective service for the ensuing two years. He then resigned 
this office and forthwith became associated with his brothers in the organi- 
zation of the Hemrich Brothers Brewing Company, which was duly mcor- 
porated under the laws of the state. They erected a fine plant, where is 
produced a lager of the most excellent order, the purity, fine flavor and gene- 
ral attractiveness of the product g'iving it a high reputation, while the busi- 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 687 

n£ss is conducted upon the highest principles of honor and fideHty, so that 
its rapid expansion in scope and importance came as a natural sequel. 

-\s a business man Mr. Hemrich has shown marked acumen and mature 
judgment, and his progressive ideas and his confidence in the future of his 
home city have been signalized by the investments which he has made in local 
realty and by the enterprise he has shown in the improving of his \arious 
properties. In 1901 he erected in the village of Ballard, a suburb of Seattle, 
a fine brick business block, located at the corner of First avenue and Charles 
street, and he has also erected a number of substantial business buildings in 
the city of Seattle, together with a number of dwellings. He is the owner of 
valuable timber lands in the state and has well selected realtv in other towns 
and cities aside from those already men.tioned. He has recently accum- 
ulated a tract of land on Beacon Hill, and this will be platted for residence 
purposes and is destined to become one of the most desirable sections of the 
city. Mr. Hemrich erected his own beautiful residence, one of the finest in 
the city, in rgoi, the same being located on the southwest corner of Belmont 
avenue and Republican street. It is substantial and commodious, of effec- 
tive architectural design. ha\ing the most modern equipments and acces- 
sories and is a home which would do credit to any metropolitan community. 

\\"lii!e '.Mr. Hemrich takes an abiding interest in all that concerns the 
a(!\-ancemenl and material upbuilding of his home city and state, he has never 
taken an acli\e part in political affairs, maintaining an independent attitude 
in this regard and giving his support to men and measures. Fraternally he 
is a popular member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the 
Fraternal Order of Eagles, and he is most highly esteemed in both business 
and social circles. On the 20th of May, 1S97. in the city of Seattle, Mr. 
Hemrich was united in marriage to Miss Eliza Hanna, daughter of Nicholas 
and Mary Hanna, who were numbered among the early settlers of this city, 
where Mrs. Hemrich was Irarn and reared and where she has been prominent 
in the best social life. 

JOHN LANGSTON. 

No man in King county is more distinctively entitled to representation 
in this com])ilation than is Mr. Langston, for he figures as one of the sterl- 
ing pioneers of the state of Washington, as one whose life labors have 
brought about the dexeiopment and progress of our great comuKJuwealth, 
and as one who commands unqualified confidence and esteem in the coiunumi- 
ty where he has so long made his home. He is now living practicallv retired 



688 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

in the city of Seattle, where he has a beauitful home, and while he has been 
successful in his efforts in connection with the industrial activities of the 
state, there can be none to begrudge him his prosperit}-, for it represents 
the result of his own labors. 

John Langston is a nati\'e of the state of Missouri, having been born on 
a farm in Osage county, on the 7th of January, 1842, the son of Abraham 
and Rebecca (Slater) Langston, natives respectively of Indiana and Ohio. 
Abraham Langston, who was a son of John Langston, one of the early 
pioneers of the Hoosier state, was reared to maturity in Indiana and as a 
young man removed thence to Osage count}?, Missovtri, where he devoted 
his attention to teaching school at intervals for a number of years, also be- 
coming one of the successful agriculturists of that section, where he owned 
two good farms. In 1847 or 1848 he removed with his family to Polk 
county, Iowa, locating near the city of Des Moines, where he remained until 
1849, "^vlien he returned to Missouri, locating in Lewis county. In the fol- 
lowing year he disposed of all his interests there and joined the throng of 
argonauts making their way across the plains to the New Eldorado in Cali- 
fornia, the gold excitement being then at its height. He drove a large band 
of live stock through to the coast, arriving safely at his destination and locat- 
ing on the American river in California, where, a few months later, he suc- 
cumbed to an attack of typhoid fever. He left a widow and two children, 
our subject, and his sister Emil3^ who was married in Missouri to Anthony 
Washburn, with whom she came to Washington and here died in the year 
1863 After the death of his father the subject of this sketch became the 
head of the family and the support and protector of his mother and sister. 
In 1859, when seventeen years of age, he started, in company with his moth- 
er, sister and brother-in-Iav.-, across the plains for Colusa county, California, 
the long, weary and hazardous journey being made with ox teams. They 
started on the 21st of April and reached their destination on the 17th of 
September. Mr. Langston and his brother-in-law here engaged in cutting 
cordwood and during the winter got out three hundred cords. The follow- 
ing season Mr. Langston was employed on a ranch in that locality, and in 
1862 embarked at San Francisco for the territory of Washington, where the 
work of development had .scarcely been inaugurated. The vessel reached 
Port Townsend after a voyage of thirty-one days" duration, and two more 
days elapsed ere he arri\-ed in Seattle, whither he came in company with 
James Coffin, a son-in-law of the late William Bell. In company with a 
friend Mr. Langston went to White river valley, taking up a claim of govern- 
ment land in King count^• and continuing' his residence there until he had 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 689 

proved on the property. He then traded the same for another claim in the 
same county, exchanging with Joseph Brannan. In 1867, at Kent, IVIr. 
Langston opened the first store in King county outside of Seattle, and here 
he conducted busmess for a period of seventeen years, building up a profit- 
able general merchandise enterprise. About the year 1870 he also estab- 
lished a ferry across White river, in the meanwhile continuing to operate 
his farm, which he de\-el(iped into one of the most valuable and thoroughly 
improved in the count). For some three years before leaving this farm 
Mr. Langston was engaged quite extensively in tlie dairy business, produc- 
ing cheese during the summer seasons and butter in the winters. He kept 
a herd of about seventy-five excellent milch cows and in this line, also, did a 
profitable business. In the fall of 1882 Mr. Langston disposed of his farm 
and in the following year removed to Seattle, which city has ever since been 
virtually his home. Here he engaged in the livery business, his stables be- 
ing located on Washington street, where the St. Charles Hotel now stands, 
and there he continued the enterprise until the devastating fire nearly wiped 
out the city in 1889. He finally resumed the livery business in Eighth 
avenue, near Union street, and there conducted the same successfully until 
1891. when he disposed of his interests. In 1889 Mr. Langston purchased 
another tract of forty acres of heavily timbered land. This he also cleared 
and improved and he gave his personal attention to its operation until 1899, 
dividing his time between the city and the farm. It should be noted in this 
connection that Mr. Langston has cleared and reclaimed a total of three hun- 
dred acres of heavily timbered land in King county, placing two hundred 
and eighty acres of the same under effective cultivation. In the spring of 
1883 he took the contract for the clearing of eight miles of the right of way 
of the Northern Pacific Railroad, between the White and Black rivers. On 
his last mentioned farm Mr. Langston has given his attention principally 
to the dairy business, about twenty cows being kept on the place, and for the 
past two years he has rented the same, giving his attention principally to the 
demands placed upon him in the operation of his magnificent funeral coach, 
which is one of the finest in the northwest and which is drawn by a team of 
the best horses, the car being operated in connection with the undertaking 
business of three dififerent concerns in the city. In 1902 he completed his 
fine modern residence at 720 L'nion street, the same being one of the many 
attractive homes in the city. W'hile Mr. Langston has ever shown himself 
to be a public spirited and progressive citizen, taking deep interest in all that 
has concerned the well-being of the city and county of his home, he has never 
sought or desired the honors or emoluments of political preferment, though 



690 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

he is recognized as one of the stalwart supporters of the RepubHcan party. 
Mr. Langston erected tlie St. Charles Hotel, one of the first to be opened to 
the public after the fire of 1889. 

In King county, on the 30th of July, 1870, Mr. Langston was united in 
marriage to Mrs. Helen Keller, who was born in the state of Maine, as were 
also her parents, Goddard and Elizabeth Molmes. Of the four children 
born to Mr. and Mrs. Langston, the second died in infancy, while Hugh E. 
died in 1893, at the age of twenty-one years. The two surviving children 
are Cecil A., and Nellie, who is the wife of Harry Watson, of this city. Mr. 
Lang'ston is one of the few remaining pioneers of King county, and this 
slight tribute to his worthy life and accomplishment is certainly due in this 
connection. The family have occupied a prominent place in the social life 
of the city, and the home of our subject is known as a center of cordial hos- 
pitality and gootl cheer. 

BENJAMIN F. BRIGGS. ' 

As one of the honored pioneers of the state of Washington and as a 
representative business man of Seattle, it is certainly fitting that Mr. Briggs 
be accorded definite recognition in a compilation of the province ascribed to 
this work, and in connection with his career and genealogical record are to 
be found many points of distinctive interest. He was incumbent of the re- 
sponsible position of cashier of the banking house of Dexter Horton & Com- 
pany, and known as one of the able financiers of the state, and during the 
long years of his residence in Washington had retained unqualified confi- 
dence and esteem on the part of those with whom he had come in contact 
in the various relations of life. 

Mr. Briggs was a representative of families long identified with the 
annals of American history, the same having been founded in New England 
in the early colonial epoch. He was born in the village of Assonet, Bristol 
county, Massachusetts, near the city of Boston, the date of his nativity hav- 
ing been July 19, 1832. His father, Franklin Briggs, was likewise a native 
of the old Bay state, and he followed a seafaring life, having been an able 
navigator. He was mate of a vessel during the war of 1812 and was cap- 
tured by the British and held in Dartmouth prison for se\'eral months. He 
was prominently identified with maritime interests for many years, having 
been master of a large schooner utilized in the southern trade and having 
prospered in his endeavors. His wife, whose maiden name was Sarah Hatha- 
wav, was likewise a native of Massachusetts and a member of one of the 




D 




V L 



(PO^ 




SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 691 

prominent old families of New Enj^land. Of their eight children, three are 
living at the present time, the subject of this review being the only repre- 
sentati\-e of the family who came to the state of Washington. The father 
lived to attain the age of seventy-fi\e years, his wife having passed away at 
the age of forty-nine. 

Benjamin F. Briggs recei\ed his education in the public schools of his 
native state and in an excellent academy at Middleboro, having passed the 
summer seasons on various vessels, while he devoted the winter months to 
his school work, thus gaining a good practical experience simultaneously 
with .scholastic discipline. When he attained his legal majority he decided 
that he would try his fortunes on the Pacific coast, the gold excitement i)eing 
then at its height, and he felt that here might be found lietter opportunities 
for the attainment of success through personal effort. In 1853, therefore, 
he set forth for California, making the trip by way of the Isthmus of Panama, 
and for th'ce years after his arrival in the Golden state he continued to be 
identified with maritime interests, being employed on diiTerent vessels and 
finding his services in ready demand. He then entered into partnership with 
Captain Lamb and was engaged in the grain and general commission busi- 
ness in San Francisco for several years, after which he held a position as 
accountant in the same city until 1869, when he came to Seattle, as one of 
the pioneers of the future metropolis of the great state. In June, 1870. ?ilr. 
Briggs opened the fi.rst banking institution ever founded in the city, in the 
capacity of cashier, the concern being a private banking house conducted by 
the well known firm of Dexter Horton & Coinpanw He remained with the 
bank for two years after Mr. Horton disposed of his interests therein, in 
i8i)3, and after that time was associated with Mr. Horton in the most re- 
sponsible iiositi(jn one man can hold in the employ of another, that of con- 
fidential agent, and handled all of the business interests of jMr. Horton as 
though they v.ere his own, these interests being of wide scope and importance 
and demanding in their management marked financial and administrative 
ability. Mr. Briggs proved altogether capable of discharging the varied 
duties de\-olving upon him, and his integrity and fidelity were pro\-erbial, 
no business man in the city ever being held in greater confidence, while his 
advice and counsel were valued by many of the prominent men of Seattle. 

Mr Briggs made judicious investments in both city and country prop- 
erty, buying valuable land in Snohomish and King counties, the latter being 
located a short distance to the east of Lake \Vashington. while in the city 
of Seattle he owned a quarter of each of three different blocks. He cretted 
five substantial buildings on his ])ropeny at the corner of Spring street and 



692 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

Seventh avenue, and a fine building on his Madison street property, while 
his commodious and beautiful residence is located at the corner of Spring 
street and Sixth avenue. That he had confidence in the development of the 
city and a prescience as to the magnificent future awaiting her, was shown 
in his investment in local realty, and the city had among its citizens no more 
loyal and enthusiastic devotee to its interests. Mr. Briggs attended to the 
renting of both the New York and the Seattle buildings, which are among 
the finest of the many modern and attractive business blocks in the city. The 
New York building contains one hundred and fifty-eig-ht office rooms, three 
large stores of three stories each, two smaller stores and the fine offices and 
counting room of the Washington National Bank. The Seattle building 
contains eight stores, forty-six double rooms and thirty-three single, and of 
both of these structures Mr. Briggs was the agent, collecting all rents and 
having general charge of the properties. 

In politics Mr. Briggs had ever given his allegiance to the Republican 
partv, and m the earlv days of his residence in Seattle he ser\-ed as a member 
of the city council, while he refused to accept nomination for various other 
offices. He attended the Protestant Methodist church and was a liberal con- 
tributor to its support. Fraternally he was identified with the Masonic order, 
having been initiated in the same shortly after taking up his residence in 
California. In 1869 Mr. Briggs was united in marriage to Miss Rebecca 
Horton, daughter of Dexter Horton, with whose extensive business and 
moneyed interests he was so long and prominently identified, and of this 
union three children were born : Ida, Alfred and Laura. He was afterward 
married to Sarah Griffith, a nati\e of Penns)'lvania, and four children were 
born of this union: Frank, who is engaged in the jewelry business in Se- 
attle; Clarence, a student in the Portland Medical College; and Herbert and 
Clyde, who remain at the parental home. On August 17, i9oi2, Mr. Briggs 
ended his long and useful career in death, a loss not only to his family circle 
but to the city and county where he had labored so earnestly. 

FRANCIS M. CARROLL. M. D. 

Success in any vocation, in any avenue of business, is not a matter of 
spontaneity but is the legitimate offspring of effort in the proper utilization 
of the means at hand, the improvement of opportunity and the exercise of 
the highest functions made possible by the specific ability in any case. In 
view of these facts the study of biography becomes valuable and its lessons 
of practical use. To trace the history of a successful life must ever prove a 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 693 

profitable and satisfying indvtlgence, for the history of the individual is the 
history of the nation, the history of the nation that of the world. The sub- 
ject of this sketch is a man to whom has not been denied a full measure of 
success in his chosen field of endeavor, who stands distinctively as one of -the 
representative members of the medical profession in the state of Washington 
and whose prestige has been gained by close application, determined effort 
and the dexelopment of the intrinsic forces which are his. When it is stated 
that the Doctor is the city health officer of Seattle and secretary of the King 
County }iledical Association, an idea of his precedence in his profession is 
at once conveyed, and he is known and honored as one of the leading physi- 
cians and surgeons of the metropolis of the state and as a young man of high 
intellectual and executive powers. 

Francis M. Carroll is a native of the fair land of the south, though he 
has passed the major portion of his life in Washington, which has been his 
home since 1879, while he has resided in the city of Seattle since 1885. The 
Doctor was born in the quaint old city of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on the 
2 1 St of September, 1869, and is a representative of one of the old and dis- 
tinguished families of our republic, the genealogical record tracing back to 
the early colonial epoch in our national history. The original American 
progenitor came hither from England with Lord Baltimore, and one of the 
old and prominent families of the state of Maryland is that to which refer- 
ence is often made as the "Carrolls of Carrollton." The town mentioned is 
located in Carroll count)^ and both were named in honor of direct ancestors 
of the subject of this review. ^Members of the family have participated in 
the various wars in which our country has been engaged, aiding in the secur- 
ing of our national independence, while later the loyalty of those bearing the 
name was shown by similar service in the other wars through which the 
integrity of the Union has been maintained. Thus it should be noted that 
John R. Carroll, the great-great-grandfather of the Doctor, as a member of 
tlie Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, was an active participant in the war of the 
Revolution; his son George took part in the war of 1812: the latter"s son, 
also named George, went forth to do yeoman service in the Mexican war; 
while the latter's son, P. P. Carroll, the father of the Doctor, was one of the 
brave and gallant soldiers who aided in perpetuating the Union during the 
dark days of the war of the Rebellion. He was a lieutenant in the Twenty- 
fourth United States Lifantry ; was wounded in the attack upon Port Royal. 
South Carolina, on the 7th of November, 1861 ; and again, in July. 1864. 
he received severe wounds while in charge of the blowing up of the mine at 
tlie fortifications before Petersburg; and in March. 1865. he again suffered 



694 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

the fortunes of war, receiving another wound. He participated in the first 
battle of Bull Run and thereafter continued in active service until victory 
came to the Union arms, having been among the lirst of the Union soldiers 
to enter the Confederate capital at the time of its capitulation. His was the 
distinction, also, of having been in command of President Lincoln's body 
guard. After the war he engaged in the practice of law, and was later elected 
to the bench. 

When Doctor Carroll was ten years of age his parents removed to the 
territory of Washington, taking up their residence in Olympia, the capital 
city, and there he pursued his studies in the public schools and under the 
direction of private tutors, thus preparing himself for entrance into the 
State University. He continued his studies in this institution for some time, 
and thereafter completed a course in business college. Of self-reliant nature 
and strong mentality, it was but natural that the young man should early 
formulate definite plans as to his future life work, and thus we find that he 
determined to prepare himself for the medical profession. He began his 
reading' under Dr. Horton, and later entered the Cooper Medical College in 
the city of San Francisco, where he comi)leted a thorough course and was 
graduated as a member of the class of 1S96. receiving his coveted degree of 
Doctor of Medicine. Since then he has been an indefatigable student and 
has missed no opportunity for extending his knowledge of the sciences of 
medicine and surgery through well directed reading and supplementary 
clinical work. Soon after his graduation Dr. Carroll received the appoint- 
ment as surgeon for the Monte Cristo mines, and as such he continued to 
render efficient service until January. 1S98, when he returned to Seattle and 
established himself in the general practice of his profession, since which 
time he has gained definite recognition among liis professional confreres and 
on the part of a representative class of citizens. The Doctor is thoroughly 
en nipport with his profession, is essentially and at all times an assiduous 
student, keeping fully abreast of the advances made in sciences of medicine 
and surgery, and his success has been of pronounced order and has come as 
the nature sequence of his earnest and able application to his professional 
work. In May, 1900, Dr. Carroll was appointed assistant health officer of 
the city of Seattle, and on August 1st of the following year he was accorded 
preferment as chief health officer, of which position he has since been the in- 
cumbent. He is a member of the American Medical Association; the Wash- 
ington State Medical Society; the King County Medical Association, of 
which he is secretary; and is also identified with the Association of Military 
Surgeons of the United States, having been appointed in 1898 surgeon of 



SEATTLE AND KIXG COUNTY. 695 

the national gtiard of the slate of Washington, with the rank of first heu- 
tenant. 

Fraternally the Doctor holds membership in the Knights of Pythias, 
the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Woodmen of the World, 
the Fraternal Order of Eagles, the Modern Woodmen and the Order of 
Washington. He is local medical examiner for the Knights of Pythias and 
the ]\Iodern W^oodmen and also of the Railway Trainmen's Insurance Asso- 
ciation. In politics he gives a stanch allegiance to the Republican party, 
taking an active interest in its cause, and in 1900 he was a delegate to the 
Seattle city convention of his party. In July. 1900. Dr. Carroll was united 
in marriage to Miss Ida Sutthoff. who was born in California, and of this 
union one daughter has been born. Ida Eugenie. Dr. and Mrs. Carroll are 
highly esteemed in the social circles of the city and are numbered among the 
popular young people of Seattle. 

ALEXANDER S. JEFFS. 

At the bar of Seattle Alexander S. Jeffs has attained to a position which 
is creditable, because it indicates his capability and his close application in 
the line of his chosen profession. He is one of the native sons of W^ashing- 
ton, and has here laid the foimdation for a successful career in the law by a 
very thorough course of study, and his laudable ambition and enterprise 
auger well for the future. 

i\Ir. Jefifs was born at Pialschie, King county. July 8, 1874, and is a 
son of Richard JeiTs, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume. 
His education was received in the public schools and in Tuilatin Academy 
at Forest Grove, Oregon. Fie directed his literary studies with the end in 
view of becoming a member of the bar. He therefore pursued a classical 
course and afterward went to Portland, Oregon, where he entered the Port- 
land Academy and was graduated with the class of 1894. Going to Cali- 
fornia he later jjecame a student in the law department of the Leland Stan- 
ford L'niversity, and when four years had passed he graduated and won the 
degree of Bachelor of Arts. In January, 1899. he entered the law office of 
Thomas B. Hardin of Seattle, and was with him for about a year when the 
law firm of Lewis, Hardin & Albertson was formed, Mr. Jeffs becoming a 
clerk in the office of this firm. He acted in that capacity until May. 1901. 
when he returned home, continuing with his father upon the farm until Feb- 
ruary. 1902, when he began practice on his own account with an office in the 
Pioneer building in Seattle. Fie has given special attention to realty law. 



690 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

taking no part in the practice of criminal law. He is well fitted by earnest 
study and experience to make a success in the profession and already has 
attained an enviable position. In his political views Mr. Jeffs is a Republi- 
can, and socially is connected with the Independent Order of Foresters. He 
still considers Pialschie his home, returning there every Saturday evening 
and spending Sunday. 

THOMAS M. FISHER. 

Throughout almost his entire life Colonel Thomas M. Fisher has been 
either in the military or civil service of his country and is to-day filling the 
ottice of Chinese inspector and inspector of immigration at the port of Seattle, 
having been connected with the district since 1891. The name of Fisher 
also figures conspicuousl}'' in connection with the history of the Civil war, 
and at the battle of Gettysburg the brilliant service of our subject and his 
father won the attention of the nation and the recognition of the national 
government. Wherever found, Colonel Fisher has been known for his un- 
swerving loyalty to his country, his patriotism being one of the salient fea- 
tures in his honorable career. 

The Colonel was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, on the 19th 
of February. 1846. His father, General J. W. Fisher, was a member of 
the legal fraternity and won distinction at the bar, eventually becoming chief 
justice of the supreme court of Wyoming. When the Civil war was inaug- 
urated he offered his services to the government and went to the front with 
the rank of captain. Later he was promoted to the rank of colonel and 
afterward to brigadier general. He won glory and renown at the battle of 
Gettysburg by capturing Little Round Top, and he continued in active serv- 
ice until the cessation of hostilities, being discharged as brigadier general, a 
rank which had been \\on by meritorious service. Later he went to Wyom- 
ing, spending his last days there, and enjoying distinction as one of the most 
eminent members of the bar of the west. He was appointed to the position 
of chief justice and presided over that court of last resort in a manner which 
reflected credit upon its judicial history. Pie died in 1901, at the advanced 
age of eighty-six years. In early manhood he married Miss Elizabeth 
R. Shearer, a daughter of Major James Shearer, who won his title in the 
war of 18 12. Eight children were born of this marriage, our subject being 
the only one on the coast. 

Colonel Fisher pursued his education in the public schools of his native 
county and was only fifteen years of age when he enlisted in the Fifth 




; 



\ r 





U/^ 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 697 

Pennsylvania Infantry, later becoming a member of the Second Regiment 
of Pennsylvania \'oluntcers. At the battle of Gettysburg he carried the dis- 
patch concerning the surrender of Round Top across the field to General 
Meade, and for this act of conspicuous bravery he was made first lieutenant. 
He had been wounded at Fredericksburg, but was ofif duty for only a few 
weeks. At the battle of Ream's Station he was brevetted captain, and com- 
manded Company B of the One Hundred and Ninetieth Pennsylvania In- 
fantry from the 30th of May, 1864, until the close of the war, although he 
was only eighteen years of age when he took command. He took part in all 
the engagements participated in by the Army of the Potomac, including 
the seven days" battle of the Wilderness, Mechanicsville, Gaines' Mills, Mal- 
vern Hill, the second battle of Bull Run, Falksburg, Gettysburg, the Wilder- 
ness campaign and the siege of Petersburg, up to the battle of Ream's Station, 
August 25, 1864, when the regiment was captured. He was afterward in- 
carcerated at Petersburg, Libby prison, IDansville and Salisbury, and on the 
22d of February, 1865, was paroled. 

Sliortly after the close of the war he was made lieutenant of the Twenty- 
third Infantry in the regular army, and served throughout the Indian cam- 
paign under General Crook in Oregon and California. In 1872 he resigned 
and went to Wyoming, where he resided until 1880, engaged in the practice of 
law. He had studied law while in the army, was admitted to the bar in 
Wyoming, and there continued in practice until 1880, when he removed to 
Colorado and was city attorney at Silver Cliff in 1882. He joined the state 
militia there and liccanie a ca]itain in the Colorado National Guard. 
He also became an aide on the staff of Governor Routte, with the 
rank of colonel. After three years he removed to Cheyenne, Wyoming, 
where he practiced law with success until 1890. during which time he was 
commander of the department of the Grand Army of the Republic for Wy- 
oming and Colorado. He then went to Washington, D. C. where he held 
various positions in the interior department until 1891. when he was ap- 
pointed inspector of immigration and assigned to duty in the Seattle district, 
serving imtil the latter part of 1S93, when he went out with the administra- 
tion. In 1896 he was elected prosecuting attorney of Jefferson county and 
discharged liis duties so acceptably that in 1898 he was re-elected without 
opposition, receiving practically all the votes of the county, only three being 
cast against him. In 1896 he was appointed to the position of Chinese in- 
spector, ami in 1901 the office was transferred to the bureau of immigration 
and he was given the duties of inspector of immigration, with office in Seattle, 
.so that he is now ser\ing in that capacity. He has always been a Republican, 
44 



698 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

taking a most active and helpful interest in the work of the party until after 
he entered office under the civil service rules. 

Colonel Fisher has been twice married. He first wedded ^liss Bessie 
Wilford, in Pennsylvania, and they became the parents of two children, 
Thomas M., of Seattle, and Charles E., who is connected with the Post 
Intelligencer. After the death of his first wife Colonel Fisher was married 
at Port Townsend to Rosella F. Plummer. For thirty-three years he has 
been a member of the Masonic fraternity; belongs to John F. Miller Post, 
Grand Army of the Republic, was commander of his post for three years in 
Port Townsend and for five years in Cheyenne. He has also served as state 
counselor for the state of Washington in the Junior Order of American Me- 
chanics. Such, in brief, is his life history. In whatever relation of life 
we find him — in the government service, in political circles, in military life, 
in professional or social relations — he is always the same honored and hon- 
orable gentleman, whose worth well merits the high regard which is uni- 
formly given him. 

EDWARD J. DUHAMEL. 

It is always a pleasure to see true merit suitably rewarded and to behold 
the prosperity of those who eminently deserve it, as does the subject of this 
review. At an early age he learned one of the great lessons of life — that 
there is no royal road to wealth, — and therefore he has toiled industriously, 
winning not only affluence but also the confidence of the people with whom 
he has been associated in business. Work has developed his latent resources 
.md brought out the .strong, self-reliant force of his character. He is now 
extensively engaged in contracting and building, and has erected some of the 
largest and finest buildings on the Puget Sound. 

Mr. Duhamel was born in Buffalo. New York. August 25, 1850, and 
comes of a family of French orig'in that was established in Canada at an 
early day. His father, Peter Duhamel, was the first of the name to locate in 
the United States. He took up his abode near Buffalo, and engaged in con- 
tracting and building. In 1854 he removed westward to Wisconsin, settling 
in Whitewater, W'al worth county, where he remained imtil 1862, when he 
returned to Canada. After a few years, however, he again came to the 
United States and remained a resident of Chicago until his death, which 
occurred in 1891. His wife bore the maiden name of \'irginia Bessett, and 
they became the parents of seven children, hut the subject of this re\'iew is 
the only one living on the Pacific coast. 

In the public schools of ^^'isconsin Edward J. Duhamel pursued his 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 699 

education He had natural taste and inclination for the builder's art, but his 
father did not wish him to follow that pursuit, so in 1867 he entered the othce 
of an architect in order to master the kindred profession of planning build- 
ings He readily mastered the work, was given charge of the ottice and re- 
mained m that responsible position until 1875. In that year Mr. Duhamel 
sought a home in the south. He went to Galveston, Texas, where he opened 
an office, remaining in business in that city and in Houston until 1887. He 
then removed to El Paso, Texas, where he remained for two years, when he 
came to the north, locating in Seattle, where he turned his attention to con- 
tracting and building, taking contracts for the erection of large buildings 
He erected the Squire Latimer building and the large schoolhouse at Port 
Townsend, after which he went to Tacoma, where he had the contract tor the 
original city hall, but a change of location and plans delayed the work, and 
in consequence of this he went to Chicago m 1894, not caring to wait until 
the dilatory committee should adjust affairs in Tacoma. In Chicago he 
engaged in building, erecting a number of churches, but a preference for the 
west caused him to return to Washington, and upon again locating in Seattle 
in 1897 he secured the contract for erecting the ten additions to St- Joseph s 
Hospkal at Tacoma, in connection with Mr. Cribble. The hrm of Cribble & 
Duhamel was formed. In 1S90 Mr. Megrath became a partner, and while 
Mr Cribble is still interested m the business the t^rm name is now Megiatn 
& Duhamel. When Mr. Megrath became interested in the contracting busi- 
ness, the others also became interested in his brickyards. Alter a year the 
latter business was incorporated under the name of the ^^ ashington Bnck 
& Tile Company, of which Mr. Megrath is the president, wh, e Mr. Duhamel 
is the secretarvand treasurer. Among the most prominent buildings which 
he has erected are the Snoqualmie Falls building, at the corner o Mam and 
Second streets, the Hamlock building, the Smith building on Jackson s reet 
the car barns at Fifth and Pine streets, the power plant building of he 
Seattle Electric Company on Western avenue, one of the most substantia 
and the first one of the kind erected here, the schoolhouse at Green Lake, the 
"If warehouse and bunkers on the tide flats for the Electric Compai.y 
and the four-story and basement factory for the Pacific Coast Syrup Com- 
pany, the first large bnck building on the tide lands, also the t- VniiWn^ 
for James H. Perkins on the tide flats. These are an indication ot he nature 
of the contracts awarded to our subject, who is regarded as one of the mos 
prominent, capable and successful contractors of the city, and the volume of 
his business is steadily increasing. He furnishes employment to a large force 
of workmen and is always just and fair in his dealings with them. 



700 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

Mr. Duhamel was united in marriage to Miss Xeddermeyer of Chicago. 
Socially he is connected with the Masons and the Elks, and in politics is 
independent, preferring to vote for those whom he thinks best qualified for 
office, without regard to party ties. Starting upon an independent business 
career upon his removal to the south, he has steadily advanced in his chosen 
field of labor until he has contributed in no small degree to the improvement 
of the northwest, and at the same time has advanced until he now occupies a ■ 
commanding position in bitsiness affairs. 

SAMUEL C. CALDERHEAD. 

It is always interesting to take up the life of one who has been devoted 
to public affairs, whether in those affecting the greater divisions of the coun- 
trv or those of the township or county. The ever increasing importance of 
America as a center for commercial power, and of late years as a world 
empire, must cause every true citizen of our republic to assume a proper share 
of the duties incumbent upon public-spirited citizenship. Mr. Calderhead 
of Seattle has not only a record of a life spent in honorable activity in private 
affairs but has devoted time and service to the public matters of his county 
and state. 

^Ir. Calderhead has a good ancestry, which is a good beginning for 
auyiine and has much to do with the future of the individual. His grand- 
father Alexander was a native of Scotland and a minister of the Presby- 
terian church. He was induced to cross the waters to America, and settled 
in Belmont county. Ohio, where he spent the remainder of his days and took 
up a homestead. In this state Ebenezer B. was born, and he followed in the 
footsteps of his father and made the ministry his calling in life. He has a 
record of fifty years spent in this capacity, and twenty-five of these were 
with one congregation. He is still living, at the advanced age of ninety 
years, with the page of life remarkably free from the blots of human weak- 
ness. Flis wife w'as Martha Boyd Wallace, who was also of Scotch origin; 
slie died in her forty-sixth year. 

Samuel C. was one of eleven children and was born in Ohio in 1856. 
After a ):)eriod passed in the public schools he attended Franklin College, but 
at the age of sixteen set out on his own account to battle with the world. He 
finally took up railroad work as a settled occupati(5n and was an operator and 
station agent for a number of vears in Kansas with the Kansas City. Fort 
Scott and Gulf, and later with the Missouri Pacific. But his eyes had been 
turned for some time to the Puget Sound countrv, and in 1880 he came to 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 701 

\\ alia Walla am! l(ir se\'en years was in the employ of the railroad there 
and in the vicinity. The year 1887 is the date of his coming to Seattle, 
where for four years he held the position of secretary for the Seattle Ter- 
minal Rail\va\- and Elevator Company, and then with the Great Northern 
in different capacities. Later he was nominated by his party, the Demo- 
cratic, to the office of mayor of the city and made the race against Mayor 
Humes in 1898. His ability as a business manager was recognized in 
his appointment to receiver of the Guarantee Loan and Trust Company 
Bank. He gave his exclusive attention to the matters connected with this 
business until they were all adjusted in the early part of 1902. In 1900 he 
received the unanimous nomination for county treasurer, but though lie 
ran eighteen hundred votes ahead of the support accorded to the presiden- 
tial candidate Bryan, and carried the city, the Republican majority in the 
county was too great to o\'ercome. He has always been interested in the 
success of the Democratic party, and with the exception of the year 1896 
has attended every city, county and state convention since he came here. 
Mr. Calderhead is active in the fraternal organization. He holds 
several of the lower degrees of Masonry and belongs to the Seattle Com- 
mandery No. 2, of the Knights Templars. He is a member of the Benevo- 
lent and Protective Order of Elks, the Seattle Camp No. 69. of the Wood- 
men of the World, and is past counsul ; and to the Ancient Order of United 
Workmen. Mr. Calderhead was married in Walla Walla. Junue 27, 18S6, 
to Mrs. Haselton, and they have two children. Gem O. and Samuel J. The 
residence in which the familv reside was erected in 1891, and is a home of 
much taste and refinement. 

HENRY LOHSE. 

Henry Lohse is extensively engaged in the manufacture of brick in 
Seattle, conducting an industry which has contributed to the general pros- 
perity of the city as well as to the indi\idual success of the owner. Mr. 
Lohse has long resided in Washington, having taken up his abode in this 
state in January, 1871, so that he has witnessed much of the growth and 
development in the last quarter of a century. He is a native of Germany, his 
birth having occurred in Holstein. January 22, 1840. His father, Hans 
Lohse, was a farmer by occupation and married Gretchen Wrage, by whom 
he had six children, four sons and two daughters, but Frank and Henry are 
the only ones now living. The father died of typhoid fever at the age of 
forty-eight years, but on both sides the family were noted for longevity. 



702 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

On the paternal side the grandfather reached the age of ninety-one years, 
the grandmother ninety-six years, while on the maternal side they were 
eighty-one and eighty-five years of age, respectively. 

When a young man Henry Lohse worked upon the home farm during 
the months of summer and attended school throughout the remainder of the 
year until he was sixteen years of age. He then began preparation for the 
practical duties of business life b}- learning the trade of a mason, and after- 
ward followed that pursuit in various parts of Germany, working as a jour- 
neyman for five years. Having heard favorable reports of the opportunities 
and privileges of the new world, he determined to try his fortune in America, 
and in 1865 crossed the Atlantic and located in Chicago, Illinois. There he 
followed the trade of bricklaying, and while thus engaged learned the En- 
glish language. In January, 187 1. he arrived in Seattle, coming west on 
account of his health, two physicians having recommended him to take this 
step. He located first at Olympia, as there was more business being done in 
that city, the seat of government. He had brought some money with him to 
the west, and invested in property there. He also worked at whatever he 
could get to do for five years. Seeing that there was a more brilliant future 
before Seattle, he determined to locate here, being advised to do so by Bailey 
Gatzert and Henry Yesler. Accordingly he shipped brick from Olympia, 
did some building on his own account and also sold brick to others. He 
entered into partnership with Otto Ranke as a contractor, and they remained 
together until 1884, when Air. Lohse established a brickyard on Jackson 
street. In 1894 he removed his business to his present location on the south 
side of the city. He has built up an extensive trade, and his brickyard now 
has a capacity of twenty-fi\e thousand brick per day. He manufactures the 
sand-rolled brick, which is an excellent building material. His patronage 
has so increased that at the beginning of the present year he had orders for 
all the brick which he could manufacture during the year. This condition of 
affairs is quite different from what existed at the time of his arrival here. 
Then his present output would have furnished all the brick used in the city 
for five 3'ears. Air. Lohse erected the Holyoke building, also the York Hotel 
and the Eppler block, and up to the time of the great fire in Seattle he and 
Air. Ranke had erected every brick building in the city with one exception. 
He also built the Bay View brewery, and his son Henry is now building the 
large addition and the smokestack to that plant. In 1S77 Air. Lohse erected 
his present residence on James street and also the house adjoining on the east. 
There is a very fine spring on his place, which he has fixed so that it can be 
reached by the public, and is much appreciated. 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 703 

.Mr. Lohse was married in Chicago, in 1866, to Meta Cirjack, and they 
have three children hving. They also lost two by diphtheria in 1890. Those 
who still snrvive are Henry, a contractor; (iretchen L., who is now traveling 
in Enrope ; and Frank, who is foreman in his father's brickyard. Mrs. Lohse 
belongs to the I'ranenverein. a ladies' aid society. Mr. Lohse holds member- 
ship in the Tnrnverein and in the Ancient Order of United Workmen. In 
politics he is a Republican, but has never sought or desired office. He and 
his family attend the Lutheran church. During the years of his residence in 
the United States he has never had occasion to regret his determination to 
seek a home in the new world, for he found that the reports of business oppor- 
tunities here were not exaggerated, but that good openings lay before men of 
energ}-. determination and ambition. He has steadily worked his way up- 
ward, and in Seattle has established an industry of importance, bringing to 
him an excellent financial return. 

JOHN WOODING. 

John Wooding is a retired farmer living in Auburn and since 1877 has 
made his home in Washing-ton. He was born in Saginaw, Michigan, Feb- 
ruary 10, 1858. and is a son of John Wooding, Sr., whose birth occurred in 
Canada in 181 8. When a young man his father removed from the domin- 
ion to Micliigan, and was there engaged in the lumber trade at Saginaw, 
remaining in that business until his death, which occurred in 1873. He was 
of Welsh-English stock, and his wife, who bore the maiden name of Erma 
Garland, was of English descent. She w^as born in Saginaw, Michigan, 
in 1837 and is now living in Auburn. 

At the usual age John Wooding entered the public schools, and after 
he had mastered the commrm English branches of learning further contin- 
ued his studies in the high school at Toledo, being graduated in that insti- 
tution. When nineteen years of age he sought a home in the northwest, 
making his way to Washington, where he secured a claim in the Green river 
valley comprising one hundred and sixty acres of land. This is located on 
the rixer, five miles from the town of Auburn. The tract was a tangle of 
underbrush and trees, as was all of the surrounding country at that time, but 
he cleared it and with characteristic energy began to make it arable. Smce 
that time his attention has largely been given to farming and his agricultural 
intetrests have brought to him a creditable and desirable financial return. 
Since 1890 Ire has rented his farm. For ten or twelve years prior to 1890 
he was extensively engaged in hop-growing in King county. He afterward 



704 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

devoted his attentiun tu dairyiii"^ and general farming- and these lines of 
agricultural work also prove quite profitable. Since 1889 he has made his 
home in the town of Auburn, and for fi\'e years after his arrival was engaged 
in merchandising as a partner of C. V Lacey. Dave Hart, Dr. Iloge and W. 
H. Henii)hill. This business was conducted until 1894, when it was closed 
out. 

In .\uburn, in 1878, Mr. Wooding was united in marriage to Lucretia 
Brannan. who was born at the home of her parents in the White river valley 
of Washington, a daughter of Joseph and Sarah Brannan, who were among 
the first settlers of the valley. To our subject and his wife have been born 
four children, and the family circle yet remains unbroken by the hand of 
death. Their names are as follows: duy, Blanche. Grace and Ethel. 

For many years Mr. Wooding has been a prominent worker in the 
ranks of tlie Repui>lican party and does everything in his power to jjromote 
the growth and insure the success of that ])arty. He has served as county 
commissioner, and in 1894 was elected to represent his district in the state 
senate and re-elected in 1898. He was nominated for sheriff of King 
county on the 27th of June, 1902. Socially he is connected with King Solo- 
mon Lodge, F. & A. M., at Kent, and Chapter No. 3, R. A. ]M.. at Seattle. 
He is also a member of Valley Lodge. 1. O. O. F., and Douglas Lodge, 
K. 1'.. at Auburn. I'rom the time when he entered upon his business career 
he has cherished a desire to ])rovide a good home for himself and his family, 
and he has prospered in his business affairs as the result of this determina- 
tion. His dealings have Ijeen in strict accordance with business principles, 
and in .Auburn and the surrounding district, where he is 1)est known. ^Tr. 
Wooding has many friends. 

CLARK M. NETTLETON. 

Clark M. Nettleton is the business manager of the Seattle Bridge Com- 
pany and director of the Mensing-Muchmore Printing Company, a trustee 
of the Seattle & Shanghai Investment Company, and a member of the civil 
service commission of Seattle. These interests indicate something of the 
extent and scope of his efforts. A man of resourceful business ability, he 
stands among those whose keen discrimination not only enables them to 
recognize the opportunity of the jiresenl. but also the exigencies and possi- 
bilities of the future, and his work is proving a substantial and important 
element in the upljuilding and development of tl:e great northwest, which 
is fast becoming the center of the world's commercial and industrial life. 




(^.^ M, 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 705 

Mr. Nettleton was born in Lewis Center, Ohio, September 25, 1868^ 
and is a son of Stiles R. and Amelia (Mills) Nettleton, the former a native 
of Ohio and the latter of Michigan. The father was identified with Jay 
Cook & Company in extensive business and railroad interests, and in 1872 
he went to the Red river valley of Minnesota as a representative of the land 
department of that company during the construction of the Northern Pacific 
Railroad. He was thus engaged until 1884, and was extensively interested 
in real estate operations in that section of the country. In the latter year he 
removed to Northfield, Minnesota, where he purchased the Northfield News, 
which he conducted with success for four years. He then purchased a stock 
farm in southern Minnesota and took up his abode thereon. In his family 
were seven children, namely: Elva, the wife of Edgar C. Turner, a resident 
farmer of Snohomish county; H. S., who is the buyer for the Frederick & 
Nelson Furniture Company, of Seattle; Clark M., of this review; Alice, who 
is a professional nurse, of Seattle; Mabel, a teacher in the public school of 
that place; S. R., Jr., in charge of the mck f|uarries of the Seattle Bridge 
Company ; and IMarie. 

Clark M. Nettleton, now well known in Seattle and throughout Wash- 
ington, was reared under the parental roof, acquiring his preliminary edu- 
cation in the public schools, while later he pursued a three years' literary 
course in Carleton College, of Northfield, Minnesota. In 1887 he entered 
his father's newspaper ofiice, learning the printer's trade, and after his father 
sold the paper and purchased his stock ranch Clark remained at home on 
the ranch for two years. He then went to Minneapolis, where he pursued 
a course of study in a business college. Upon the completion of his business 
course in Minneapolis he accepted a clerical position with his uncle. A, B. 
Nettleton, with whom he remained until i8go. 

That year witnessed his arri'/al in Seattle, where he engaged with E. F. 
Cassell as a stenographer, continuing in his employ for six months, when he 
accepted a position as private secretary to Mr. L. S. J. Hunt, and acted in 
that capacity until 1894. He next took a position on the Post Intelligencer 
and after serving as a reporter for one month was transferred to the tele- 
graphic department, where he spent about eight months, going from there 
to the local room. Three months later he was made city editor of the paper 
and continuously and capably served in that position for three years. He 
was then offered and accepted a position with C. J. Smith, manager of the 
Pacific Coast Company, acting as his i)rivate secretary in the conduct of his 
official busmess. He remained mUil Mr. Smith left the company in 1889, 
after which he was retained by bis fdrnier employer in the position of pri- 



706 REPRESENTATIVE CTflZEXS OF 

vale secretary in the care of his individual interests until November, 1900. 
At that date Mr. Nettleton resigiied in order to assume his present position 
as part owner and business manager of the Seattle Bridge Company. j\lr. 
Nettleton is yet a young man, having hardly reached the prime of life, yet 
he has achieved success which many a man of twice his years might well 
envy. He stands to-day prominent among the builders of the great north- 
west, energetic, determined and resolute, and his past achievements argue 
well for a successful future. Mr. Nettleton was married in 1894 to Miss 
Jennie M. Brophy, the daughter of C. A. Brophy, a manufacturer of Chicago. 

GEORGE A. BROOKE. 

Whether there is anything in hereditary tendencies or whether ability 
may be developed in certain lines without ancestral qualifications, is a much 
discussed question. Mr. Brooke's choice of a vocation may have been in- 
fluenced by the work of his ancestors, but at all events his labors have been 
an important factor in the mining interests of the northwest, where he is 
now acting as manager and engineer for the Issaquah Coal Company in the 
extensive operation of valuable coal beds. Such a business claimed the 
attention of both his father and his grandfather. The latter, Samuel 
Brooke, was one of the original developers of the Pennsylvania coal fields. 
His son, Louis P. Brooke, was born in Chester county, Pennsylvania, in 
1816, and was of English descent. For many years he was extensively 
engaged in the wholesale drygoods business in Philadelphia, but later be- 
came largely interested in the ownership of anthracite coal mines in that 
state. He married Margaret Weaver, who was born in Sunbury, Pennsyl- 
vania, in 1826, and was of German lineage. Her father, Martin Weaver, 
was one of the first shippers of anthracite coal over the Reading Railroad. 
Mr. Brooke died in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, in 1894, and his wife passed 
away there in 1891. 

George A. Brooke was born to the last mentioned parents, at Philadel- 
phia. Pennsylvania, November 15, 1854. He pursued his education in the 
public schools and in Lehigh L'niversity, at Pottsville, being graduated in 
the latter institution in the class of 1876. This college was founded by 
Asa Packer, who was engaged in the operation of coal mines and at his 
death left a fortune of fifty million dollars. On leaving school Mr. Brooke 
accepted a position as mining engineer vvith . the Philadelphia & Reading 
Coal Company, \^•ith which he remained for sixteen years as one of its 
trusted employes, a fact which is indicated by his long continuance in the 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 707 

service of tlie company. In 1892 he came to \\'asliington and for about a 
year was with the Green River Coal & Coke Company, at Palmer, King county. 
In 1893 he accepted the position of engineer and superintendent with the 
Seattle Coal & Iron Company, at their coal mines in Issaquah, and served 
in that capacity until 1897. In that year he went to the East Kootenai 
country in British Columbia as superintendent of a group of silver mines 
owned by an English company. After a year with that corporation he went 
to Alaska, where he was engaged in prospecting for a year, and in 1900 he 
returned to Washington and resumed his former position in the Issaquah 
coal mines. The name of the company had in the meantime been changed 
to the Issaquah Coal Company, although the stock is still in possession of 
tlidse who composed the Seattle Coal & Iron Company. This company 
built the Seattle. Lake Shore & Eastern Railroad from Seattle to Snoqual- 
mie and North Bend, and also a branch to Sumas, their franchise in- 
cluding territory and right of way through Snoqualmie Pass to Spokane, 
at which place they built a short spur of the road. The name of 
the road \\as later changed to the Seattle & International, and sub- 
seituentlv t!ie entire railroad franchise was sold to the Northern Pacific, 
but the company retained all of its coal interests. They own three thous- 
and acres of valuable coal and timber land and have two mines in operation, 
one at Issaquah, and the other at Grand Ridge, two miles east. The out- 
put of the Issaquah mine is a thousand tons daily and of the Grand Ridge 
mine three hundred tons per day. The Issaquah plant was equipped in 
1 90 1 with three-thousand-ton bunkers, washing plant and modern appli- 
ances for preparing coal for market. The coal is adajjted for domestic 
purposes. The operation of the mines is under the direct supervision of Air. 
Brooke, whose college training and practical experience well fit him for the 
im])ortant position he now occupies. 

In Pottsville, Pennsylvania, in 1882. Mr. Brooke was united in mar- 
riage to Miss Gertrude Sheafe Fisher, a member of one of the pioneer fami- 
lies of Nev.- England. Her grandfather. Samuel Fisher, was one of the 
first developers of the Pennsylvania anthracite coal regions. Her father, 
Howell Fislier. was a prominait lawyer of Pottsville and died in that city. 
His wife liorc the maiden name of Charlotte Sheafe, and belonged to one of 
the old and distinguished families of Massachusetss. Two children have 
beai born our subject and his wife: Charlotte Sheafe, named for her 
grandmother, and George Albert, aged, respectively, eighteen and sixteen 
years. In his political views Mr. Brooke is a stalwart Republican, being 
recognized as one of the leaders of the party here, and for a number of years 



7o8 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

he has been a member of tlie cuunty central committee. His interest in 
politics arises from a spirit of loyal citizenship, which desires the welfare 
of connty, state and nation, and not from any desires for office, for his 
bnsiness affairs leave him no time for office-holding. 

TLMOTHY J. HOWLEY. 

Clearl}- defined purpose and energetic eft'ort in the affairs of life will 
eventuate in the attaining of a due measure of success, but in following out 
the career of one who has attained success by his own efforts there comes 
into view the intrinsic individuality which makes such accomplishment pos- 
sil)le. The qualities which have made Timothy J. Howley one of the most 
prominent and successful business men of Kent have also brought him the 
esteem of his fellow townsmen, for his career has been one of well directed 
energy, strong determination and honorable methods. 

-Mr. Howley was born in Ontario. Canada, on the 15th of October, 
1862. a .son of Timothy and Susan (Fitzgerald) Howley, both born in Ire- 
land in 1822. When a young man the father removed to Ontario, Canada, 
where he has ever since followed farming near Ottawa. Flis wife died on 
the farm there in 1866. Their son Timothy received his early education in the 
district schools near his boyhood home, and until his twentieth year assisted 
his father in the work of the farm. In 1882 he went to the lumber districts 
of Wisconsin, where he was engaged in lumbering at various localities for 
five years, and in 1889 he came to the White river \alley in \\'ashington. 
For a number of years after his arrival in this state he was engaged in rail- 
road and timber contracting, and in 1898 he embarked in the real estate and 
insurance business in Kent. Since that time he has handled a large amount 
of the real estate which has changed hands in the town of Kent and the sur- 
rounding countiy, and at the same time has been an extensive purchaser of 
different kinds of property. One among the many important missions 
which lie has successfully engineered was the obtaining of the right of way 
for the Seattle & Tacoma Railway in 1901. this requiring six months of 
difficult work on the part of Mr. Howley. During the building of this line 
he received the contract for furnishing all the himber used in its construc- 
tion, including ties, bridges, etc. Through his efforts the company was in- 
duced to make Kent its headquarters and the terminal of the road, thus 
securing for this city the barns, power house, machine shops and general 
office of the company. Mr. Howley is widely recogmized as a man of unre- 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 709 

mitting- energy and perseverance, but his business methods have ever been 
characterized by integrity, and his career is a most commendable one. 

He was married at Kent in October, 1893, to Mary Downey, a daugh- 
ter of Patrick Downey, a pioneer farmer of the White river vahey. She 
was born on her father's farm on the 22d of June, 1873, ^""^ ^y '^^i" marriage 
has become the mother of two children, Timothy Joseph and Mary Eliza- 
beth. Mr. Howley exercises his right of franchise in support of the men 
and measures of the Republican party, and is an active worker in its ranks. 
For a number of years he was the choice of his fellow citizens for the office 
of city councilman. His social relations connect him with the Independent 
Order of Odd Fellows, the Ancient Order of United Workmen, the Red 
Men, of Kent, and with the Knights of Pythias at Auburn. He well merits 
the friendship which is so universally accorded him, and his name is found 
on the roll of King county's representative citizens. 

KEARIN H. McCABE. 

Xo better illustration of the character, energv and enterprise of the 
typical son oi Erin con l)e found than that afforded by the career of this well 
kown farmer of King county. He was born at Roscommon, Ireland, on 
the 2d of April, 1832, and is a son of Michael and Bridget (Saunders) Mc- 
Cabe. both also natives of the Emerald isle, the father born in county Fer- 
managh in 1792, and the mother at Roscommon. Both died at the later 
place, the mother in 1862 and the father in 1872. He followed the life of an 
agriculturist, and was prominent in the social and public affairs of his native 
county, for many years being an officer in the revenue service. 

Kearin Henry McCabe received an excellent education during his youth 
under his father's instruction, and later spent a year at the Roscommon 
Academy. At the age of twehe vears he went to live with his uncle. Aver 
]\[cCl()skey, with whom he made his home fur four years, or until he left 
the lanfl of his birth for the new world. After his arrix'al on American soil 
he took up his abode at Newark, New Jersey, where he learned the molder's 
trade, and from that city journeyed to Georgia, there remaining for a year 
and a half. By the isthmus route he then went to California, where for 
four years he was engaged in trading' in cattle, on the expiration of which 
period, in 1858, he joined the tide of emigration making its way to the 
I'raser ri\er in British Columbia, where for the following year he devoted 
his attention to mining and trading. In 1859 he arrived in Washin^on, 
hrst locating in Seattle, and in the same vear he became the owner of his. 



7IO REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

present farm, located on the west side of the W'liite ri\er, near Kent. His 
place comprises one hundred and eighty acres of rich and fertile land, and 
there for forty years Mr. McCabe has labored earnestly and effectively as a 
hop-raiser, dairyman and farmer. During that time, in the early sixties, he 
also made two trips to the mines in Idaho and Oregon. He began the rais- 
ing of hops about 1882, and from that time until the present has annually 
devoted about twenty acres to that commodity, while he has also been ex- 
tensively engaged in dairying and farming. He is a man of keen discrim- 
ination and sound judgment in business affairs, of energy and perseverance, 
and the prosperity which has attended his efforts is the merited reward of 
his own labor. In politics he is an independent Republican, and for two 
years he ably served his county as a commissioner. He expects to enjoy 
his declining years in the land of his birth, where he has business interests 
and many old-time friends. 

IRVIN K. WEITZEL. 

Back to the old Keystone state must we turn in tracing the lineage of 
the subject of this review. That section of the country which was the cradle 
of so much of our national history became the home of his ancestors in early 
colonial days, and the records extant tell of representatives of the family 
having been loyal to the nation in the crucial periods when grim-visaged 
war reared its horrid front, and bespeak the activities of honest and indus- 
trious men who have also honored their country in the "piping times of 
peace." 

Mr. Weitzel was born in Lancaster, Tennsylvania, on the 29th of 
March, 1844, ^nd in the same house his father, Jacob Weitzel, was born in 
1812. The great-grandfather served as an officer in the Revolutionary war. 
Jacob Weitzel became a tin and copper-smith, and his death occurred at 
Lancaster in 1S88. His wife also claimed that city as the place of her nativ- 
ity, her birth occurring in 1810, and in 1889 she was called to her final rest. 
Both she and her husband were of German descent. 

Irvin K. Weitzel enjoyed the educational advantages afforded by the 
common schools of his native place, and at the breaking out of the Civil war, 
on the 14th of October, 1861, he offered his services as a loyal defender of 
the stars and stripes, joining Company F, Ninth Pennsylvania Cavalry, at 
the first call for three-year troops. He became a member of the Army of 
the Cumberland, and as such participated in all the engagements and skir- 
mishes throughout Kentucky and Tennessee, also participating in Sher- 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 71 r 

man's famous march to the sea. Among the most notable battles in which 
he took part were Chattanooga, Chickamauga. Missionary Ridge. Lookout 
Mountain and Rome, and at the last named engagement, in 1864, he was 
seriously injured, receiving a bayonet wound below the right knee. His 
regiment was discharged on the 31st of December, 1863, but on the follow- 
ing day, January i, 1864, they re-enlisted at Mossy Creek, Tennessee, and on 
the i8th of July, 1865, were honorably discharged at Lexington, South Car- 
olina, for the war had ended and the country no longer needed their services. 

Returning to his home with a most excellent military record, Mr. Weit- 
zel made a short visit to his old Pennsylvania home, after which he went to 
North Carolina, there purchasing a drove of government mules at- auction, 
which he brought to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. He there disposed of a por- 
tion of them and with the remainder established himself in the teaming and 
ice business, which he continued for a year, while for the following year he 
resided at Nevada. Story county, Iowa. Going thence to Charlevoix coun- 
ty, Michigan, he was engaged in fanning for two years, on the expiration 
of which period he sold his possessions there and returned to Pittsburg, 
■where he purchased the ice business he had originally established, success- 
fully conducting that enterprise from 1870 until 1878. In the latter year 
he purchased a farm in Lawrence county. Pennsylvania, on which he made 
his home for five years. Disposing of that property, he again returned to 
Pittsburg, and through the earnest solicitation of his brother George became 
his partner in a planing mill, but this venture proved unprofitable, and 
during the year and a half in which he was thus engaged he lost all his earn- 
ings of former years, amounting to several thousand dollars. During the 
succeeding two years he found employment in the car shops of the Pennsyl- 
vania Railroad Company, and in April. 1884. he came to Washington, first 
locating on Vashon Island, near Tacoma. where he secured a soldier's claim. 
In the fall of 1886 he came to the \\'hite ri\er \alley. purchasing the .\. B. 
Young place of eighty acres near Orillia. to which he afterward added an 
adjoining thirty acres, thus increasing his landed possessions to one hundred 
and ten acres, where he has made for himself and family a comfortable 
home, and has devoted his attention to dairying and general farming. He 
has long held rank among the practical and thrifty agriculturists of his 
]ocalit\-. and his farm is one of the \-alnable ones of the valley. 

At Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, on the 29th of March. 1867. Mr. Weitzel 
was united in marriage to Eleanor Deniston. a native of that city, and her 
death occurred on the farm in Lawrence county. Pennsvlvania. in 18S1. 
Siie became the mother of five children, namely: William, a plumljer at 



712 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

Seattle: Jennie, tlie wife of Le\i Snow, a farmer on V'ashon Island; Re- 
becca, the wife of Richard Hayden, a surveyor of Seattle; Jessie, the wife of 
Ailen Clark, engaged in agricultural pursuits on White river; and lr\-in, at 
home. For his second wife }ilr. \\'eitzel chose Jennie Chadwick, and their 
marriage was celeljrated in Westmoreland county, near Pittsburg, Pennsyl- 
vania, in 1882. She was born in that city on the 18th of October, 1849, and 
is of English and Irish descent. This union has been blessed with four chil- 
dren : Harry, a machinist employed at Moran's shipyards in Seattle; Mary, 
a young lady of fourteen years; Lizzie, who has reached the age of twelve 
years; and Eddie, who was born in 1892, and died at the age of five months. 
^Ir. Weitzel is an active worker in the ranks of the Republican party, and in 
1900. l:)v the county commissioners, lie was appointed bridge inspector for 
the second district of King county, and he has proved a competent official. 
Fie maintains pleasant relations with his old army comrades through his 
membership in John F. ]\Iiller Post. Grand Army of the Republic, depart- 
ment of W'ashingtor, and Alaska. 

FRANK E. ADAMS. 

Frank E. Adams, a registered patent attorney, a mechanical engineer 
and manager of the Electric Blue Print Company, has been engaged in this 
line of trade longer than any other man now residing in Seattle. He is an 
expert in preparing patent drawings and specifications, and through his dili- 
gence, perseverance and business ability has won for himself a name among 
the representative men of the city, wdiile at the same time he has contributed 
to the general prosperity through the conduct of enterprises which furnish 
employment to many. 

i\Ir. Adams was born in Bristol, England, in 1870, and was but two 
years of age when he was brought by his parents, Isaac and Sarah (Bryant) 
.Adams, to America, the family locating first in Duluth, later in Brainerd 
and finally m Minneapolis, Minnesota. The father was a mining engineer, 
and both he and his wife died at about the age of seventy years. Of their 
six children, Frank E. is now^ the only one residing in this city, but he has 
two brothers in Tacoma, this state. After attending the schools of ]\linne- 
apolis and the State University of Minnesota. Frank E. Adams ser\ed an 
apprenticeship as a machinist and draughtsman in the North Star Iron 
Works at Minneapolis, and after completing his term of service there he was 
employed as draughtsman and mechanical designer by different firms in 
many of the largest cities of the United States, thus gaining an experience 
which has proved of inestimable value to him in later life. He came to Seattle 





^^c 



<i:2^Z>7<2-. 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. m 

in 1890 and entered the city engineer's office, where he worked for some time, 
and then opened an office for the general practice of his profession. For a 
time he devoted his earnings to the study of patent law, and he is now capable 
of designing" all classes of machinery and skillfully preparing and prosecuting 
applications for patents. He is now a registered patent attorney in both the 
United States and Canada, and also conducts the prosecution of patents 
throughout the foreign countries. 

in political matters Mr. Adams has ever been a loyal supporter of Re- 
publican pnnciples, and has many times served as a delegate to city and 
county con^•entions, while in 1895 he was elected a fire commissioner, receiv- 
ing the largest majority of any candidate on the Republican ticket. In 1S91 
he became a member of the National Guards, entering Company D, which 
soon afterward was sent out to quell the Franklin and Gilman coal riots. 
Later he was made first sergeant of his company, and in that capacity, in 
1894, he participated in the Northern Pacific strike. From the rank of first 
sergeant he rose at one step to that of captain, in which capacity he had 
charge of a detachment on the Columbia river during the fishing strike, in 
wliich he w as out for ninety days, and he received the highest praise for this 
service from the adjutant general of the state in his biennial report covering 
that period. During the Spanish-American war he volunteered at the first 
call for troops, and his company was the first ever mustered into the service 
from the state of Washington, and was known as Company D, First Wash- 
ington Infantry, United States Volunteers. They were sent immediately to 
San Francisco, where tliey were stationed at the Presidio until the following 
October, and thence went to the Philippines, Captain Adams sen-ing dur- 
ing the greater part of the time with the rank of major and received mention 
for distinguished service in battle. One month before the regiment left the 
island he was ordered to San Francisco for treatment on account of ill 
health, and after receiving his discharge at San Francisco with the remainder 
of the regiment he vetumed to Seattle and again took up the duties of a busi- 
ness life. 

In the year 1890 occurred the marriage of ]\Ir. Adams and Miss Emily 
A. Hewitt, a daughter of I. B. Hewitt, residing at Snohomish, WasJiington. 
They have one child, Viviane. Mrs. Adams accompanied her husband on 
his tri]) to the Philippines. She is a registered patent attorney and assistant 
to her Inisabnd. Captain Adams is an active member of the Congregational 
church, in wliich he served as an officer prior to his removal to the Philip- 
pines. Wherever known he is held in high regard, and in the city of Seattle, 
where nearly his entire life lias been passed, he has a host of warm friends. 



714 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

RICHARD JEFFS. 

It is always a pleasant task to trace the history of a man who has won a 
high place in the respect and esteem of liis fellow men hy his own intrinsic 
worth and merit. Such a man is the sterling citizen above mentioned, one 
who has worked his way upward from a humble position by unflagging 
attention to business, by fidelity to the interests of his superiors and due 
regard to the rights of others. For a number of years he has been a resident 
of King county, has made its advancement and prosperity one of his ruling 
principles and glories in the wonderful progress it has made. 

Mr. Jefis was born in Weschester county. New York, on the 24th of 
December, 1827. His father, W'illiam Jefifs, was born in Scotland, and when 
thirty years of age came to the new world, locating in W'estchester county, 
New York, where he was engaged in farming and teaming throughout the 
New England states, this being before the advent of the railroads in that 
section. He died in Westchester county in the early forties, at the age of 
sixty-five years. His wife, w"ho bore the maiden name of IMary Gray, 
was also a native of the land of hills and heather, and her death occurred in 
\\'estchester county, New York, about 1852. 

To the district schools of his native county Richard Jells is indebted 
for the early mental training which he recened, while later he attended a 
boarding school at New Haven, Connecticut. At the age of seventeen he 
left his parents' home and went to New "S'ork city, where for two years he 
was employed as bookkeeper for a large contracting firm. The year 1850 
witnessed his arrival on the Pacific coast, at \vhich time he made the journey 
to San Francisco, California, landing in that city with a cash capital of two 
dollars and fifty cents. He first secured employment at unloading ships, 
for which he received one dollar an hour, and at the expiration of three days 
he had -saved sufficient money to enable him to go to the mining districts, 
in Calaveras and Tuolumne counties. In 1858 he joined the tide of emu-a- 
tion on its way to the Eraser river gold district in British Columbia, where 
he spent the following year, and in June, 1859, he arri\"ed in Seattle, \\'ash- 
ington. After a residence of two \ears in that city he remo\-ed to the White 
river \alley. where he pre-empted one hundred and sixty acres of farming 
land two miles from the present town of Kent and adjoining the village of 
Pialschie. on the Union Pacific Railroad, where he has since made his home. 
When he located on this farm forty years ago the place was a wilderness, 
and it required many years of hard and persistent toil to transform it to its 
present high state of cultivation. As prosperity has rewarded his efforts, 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 715 

he lias added to his landed possessions until he is now the owner of one 
thousand acres of rich and fertile land, three hundred and seventeen acres of 
which he cultivates, while the remainder is rented. 

Mr. Jeffs was among the first in the W' hite river vallej- to engage in the 
cultivation of hops, and unlike many other residents of this section he has 
continued in that industry, undaunted by the many obstacles which have 
from time to time obstructed his path, until his identification with that in- 
dustry now covers a period of thirty-five years. He usually devotes about 
twenty-five acres to that crop. He also conducts a dairy of fifty cows, 
carries on general fanning on an extensive scale and raises sheep, hogs and 
horses, and thus it will be seen that he is one of the progressive and wide- 
awake citizens of the county. In 1878 he organized the company which 
purchased a hop farm of twelve hundred and seventy acres at Snoqualmie, 
Washington, in which he originally owned a one-sixth interest and for a 
number of years was the president and manager of the company. Under 
his wise administration the company was exceedingly prosperous, and he de- 
voted most of his time to its interests from 1878 until 1890, when a new 
manager was selected and he disposed of his interests therein. A few years 
later the great hop farm was abandoned. In the meantime Mr. Jeffs had 
accumulated a large amount of valuable property in Seattle, much of which 
he still owns. Owing to his varied resources he was one of the few who 
passed through the terrible panic of 1893-4 without being financially crip- 
pled. Throughout the years of his active business career he has been a gen- 
erous friend, and there are many people in Kmg county to-day who have 
reason to thank Richard Jeffs for the valuable assistance which he rendered 
them in their early struggles. During the past few years he has affiliated 
with the Republican party. He was a member of the consitutional conven- 
tion which met to form the state of Washington in 1888. and in this assemb- 
lage he made a stubborn and successful fight to save for the new state the 
valuable tide lands on the Puget Sound, adjacent to Seattle, the property 
owners insisting on the title to the property running to low water mark, and 
it was to this Mr. Jeff's objected. It developed in after years that his suc- 
cessful opposition resulted in a revenue of many millions of dollars to the 
state. 

On his White ri\er farm, in 1863. Mr. Jeff's was united in marriage to 
an Indian woman, who has proved to him an able assistant in his subsequent 
career. They have one child, Alexander, who received an excellent educa- 
tion and for a number of years has been engaged in the practice of law in 
Seattle. In his }-outh he attended the public schools of Kent, after which 



7i6 • REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

he spent two years in the academy at Forest Grove, Oregon. For a similar 
period he was a student in the Portland Academy, after which he entered the 
Stanford University of California, remaining in that institution of learning 
for four years. After leaving school he devoted three years to the study of 
law, in the office of Lewis, Hardin & Albertson of Seattle, and he is now a 
valued legal practitioner in that city. He is now but twenty-five years of 
age. The career of Mr. JefTs, of this review, proves that the only true suc- 
cess in life is that which is accomplished by personal effort and industry. It 
proves that the road to success is open to all young men who have the cour- 
age to tread itg pathway, and the life record of such a man will ser\e as an 
mspiration to the young of this and future generations, and teach by incon- 
trovertible facts that success is ambition's answer. 

JAMES WEIR. 

Scotland has sent many of her worthy sons to the new world, and they 
have become important factors in advancing the interests of the various com- 
munities with which they are connected. A representative of this class is 
James Weir, who was born twelve miles from Glasgow, Scotland, February 
27, 1850. His father, Thomas Weir, was born in Ayrshire, Scotland, and 
during his lifetime was engaged in agricultural pursuits. His death oc- 
curred at Kilmarnoch. His wife bore the maiden name of Margaret 
Campbell. 

James Weir received his education at Irxing, Ayrshire, and after put- 
ting aside his text books he worked for several years in the coal mines there. 
After attaining to young manhood he determined to try his fortunes in 
America, believing better opportunities were afforded to young men in the 
new world than in the more thickly settled countries of Europe. Accord- 
ingly lie crossed the Atlantic in 1868, and for a short time after his arrival 
here worked in the coal mines at Barton, Maryland, later securing employ- 
ment in the iron mines at Independence and Fairmont, Virginia. In 1871 
he returnetl to the land of his birth, but after a short visit there again crossed 
tlie briny deep to the United Staes, and from that time until 1876 was an 
emplo}-e in the coal mines at Harmony, Indiana. In the meantime, in 1873, 
he had again returned to his childhood's home in Scotland. The 1 5th of 
February, 1876, witnessed the arrival of Mr. Weir in the state of Washing- 
ton, and he came to the present site of the city of Seattle, but at that time this 
now flourishing city consisted of only a few buildings scattered along the 
water front. He has been one of the determined workers who de\-eloped the 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 717 

coal and timber resources of the surrounding country. From the time of 
his arrival here until 1880 he worked in the Newcastle mines, mining coal 
on contracts, and in the latter year he assisted in opening the first coal mine 
at Carbonado, Pierce county. From 1881 for the following eight years he 
followed the varying fortunes of a miner at Renton, on Lake Washington, 
and during the same time he was also engaged in the hotel business in that 
city and Seattle. ha\ing erected the Cottage Hotel at Renton in 1882, while 
for fifteen months, from 1887 until the fire of 1889. he was proprietor of the 
Aetna Hotel on First avenue, Seattle. In 1890, after the rebuilding of the 
city, he oj^ened the New England Hotel, at the corner of First and Main 
streets, which he has ever since conducted with success. His patronage is 
of the best class, and by straightforward business methods he has won an 
enviable reputation, his efforts to please each guest being the keynote to his 
success. In 1896 Mr. Weir organized the Renton Co-operative Coal Min- 
ing Company, of which he was president until the property was sold to the 
Seattle Electric Light & Power Company in 1900. In 1898 he purchased 
a farm of one hundred and twenty-three acres, located at South Park, six 
miles from Seattle, which be has greatly develi)ped and improved. 

At Brooklyn, New York, in March, 1S72. '\\x. Weir was united in 
marriage to Martha Preistly, who was liorn on the Emerald Isle in 1850, 
and they have four children, James, Julia, IMartha and Grace. Wx. Weir 
gives his political support to the Republican party, and is an active worker 
in the ranks of his chosen party. Flis character is marked by sincerity and 
firmness, his manner is ever courteous and genial. Careful and painstaking, 
exact and conscientious, he has. from vear to year, prospered deservingly. 

DAVID Mc\^VY. 

Twenty years ago the census reports showed no such place as Ballard, 
A\'ashington, but to-day it is one of the thriving and prosperous cities of the 
state. And this is true of the majority of the places in the west; they have 
existed only a short time, but what they lose in the way of antiquity they 
make up in progressiveness and as far as stability is concerned they have as 
good grounds for confidence in this regard as many places which have be- 
come hoary with age. The relationship between this city of Ballard and the 
gentleman who is the subject of this biography has been a close one, and one 
c:m.not speak of the growth of Ballard without mention of David McYay. 

The McVay family is of Scotch de.scent, but has resided in America for 
m<-inv generations. Grandfather John was a native of Pennsvlvania and 



718 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

did his part as a soldier in the war of 1812. The father was also named 
John and was a native of the same state. He was a cooper by trade and was 
prominent in the community, having served as justice of the peace for several 
terms. He married Mary O'Neal, and they were the parents of seven 
children. 

David is the only one of these seven who resides in the state of Wash- 
ington. He was born in Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, near Pittsburg, 
in October, 1840. For three or four months each year he attended such 
schools as the vicinity afforded, and while he was still a boy began work in 
a sawmill. Beginning, as he did, at this early age and having followed the 
lumber business all his life, he has learned it in every detail, and there is 
practically nothing about it which he is not able to do. When he was nine- 
teen years old he left his native state and went to Cattaraugus county. New 
York, where he followed his chosen pursuit for three years. He then went 
to jMichigan and engaged in lumbering and logging there for eighteen years. 
After this extensive experience he decided to come to the undeveloped re- 
gions of the Pacific coast, where his knowledge of the timber would be very 
valuable to him. He made the trip in 1883 and located first in Oregon, but 
four }-ears later came to W^ashington. In Chehalis he built the first shingle 
mill erected in that county, in 1886, and he then went to Buckley and built 
a mill of his own, which he operated from 1887 to 1889. He had been 
casting his eye about for a good permanent location, and his foresight told 
him that Ballard was an ideal place for a manufacturing center, so he came 
here in 1889. He built a shingle mill of a daily capacity of three hundred 
thousand, and he added to it and improved it as the demand warranted until 
igo2. when a disastrous fire destroyed all the i)lant with the exception of the 
dry kilns and the office. When he started his mill he had to take green 
hands and educate them to the business. The ashes were hardly cool when 
he and his men began the erection of a new plant, and in a short time a 
complete modern saw and shingle mill was finished, which had a daily 
capacity of two hundred thousand shingles and seventy-five thousand feet 
of lumber. This company was incorporated at first with a capital of twenty 
five thousand dollars, but this has been increased to one hundred and fifty 
thousand dollars: they do their own log-ging and give emplnyment to one 
hundred and fifty men. 

Air. McVay has been thoroughly interested in the welfare and upbuild- 
ing of his adopted city, and was for some years an active factor in local 
aft'airs. He is Republican in his jjolitical \iews, and has been in the city 
council several terms and has been elected to the office of mavor; durino- his 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 719 

administration lie did all in his power to secure a better water and light sys- 
tem for the town. He has been interested to some extent in real estate, and 
he erected a nice residence soon after coming here. Fraternally he is a 
Knight of Pythias. By his first wife he had one daughter, Lulu, who is the 
wife of L. H. Johnson, a member of the company. He married his present 
wife in Seattle on December 24, 1896, her maiden name being Emma 
Edwards. 

ROBERT HICKLXGBOTTOAL D. V. S. 

The profession of \"eterinary surgeon is one of the latest and yet one of 
the most valuable pursuits, for as man's dependence upon the lower animals 
increases so is it important that he should be able to protect and care for 
these. One who has gained especial prominence in this line is Robert Hick- 
ingbottom, whose office is now located at the corner of Fifth and Pine streets, 
Seattle. Washington. 

In the record of his famil}'"s history it is known that the parents were 
George and Ann ( Ogilvi! I Hickingbottom, the father a nati\-e of Yorkshire, 
England, and the mother of Edinburg, Scotland. In his youth George came 
to .America with his lirothers and was among the lirst settlers of Ontario 
county. Canada : there he erected the first stone residence in the province and 
became extensively engaged in the raising of fine stock : he was an importer 
and breeder of Clydedale horses, short horn cattle and Berkshire hogs : he 
was probably ;he best known and the most e.xtensive breeder of high grade 
stock in the province, shipping to the United States and throughout the pro- 
vinces. He was equally well known in public affairs, and as a worker and a 
power in the conservative party he did much good, although he was no 
aspirant for political office. Flis death occurred in 1890. while his wife 
passed away in igoo: the father of George Hickingbottom remained in 
England all his hfe, but the mother, at her husl)and's death, came to Canada 
and spent the remainder of her life with her son. Cjeorge and Ann Hicking- 
bottom were the parents of twelve children, of whom ten are now living, all 
engaged in worthy occupations ; John and James are engaged in farming 
and in raising fine stock in Huron county. Canada; Elizabeth is the wife of 
W. Ward, engaged in the fine stock business in Balsam, Ontario ; Joseph 
was engaged in mining in Colorado until he met his death by an accident in 
the mines in iSSj; Jessie is the wife of W. H. Bryant, a farmer and stock- 
m.ui of .\shburn, Onlarin; George died in Ashburn, Ontario; William is 
in the lumber and sawmill business in Santa Cniz county, California; I'hom- 



720 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

as is a traveling salesman of Toronto, Canada ; Dr. Richard is a veterinary 
surgeon at Dawson, Northwest territory; Andrew is a horse dealer and 
fancier in Toronto, Canada ; Annie, who remams single, resides at tlie old 
home at VVhidby. 

Robert R., the twelfth and youngest child, was born at W'hidby, On- 
tario, I'eljruary i6, 1864; was reared on his father's farm and received his 
education in the Whidby Collegiate Institute and in the University of Toron- 
to. He graduated at the Toronto Veterinary College in 1888. He at once 
. began practice at Brooklyn, Ontario, under Hon. John Dryden, the minister 
of agriculture of Ontario, with whom he was associated for a number of 
years and through whose recommendation he was appointed to a position 
under the British government at Vancouver in 1894. He remained here 
until 1897, when he received an appointment under both the British and 
American go\-ernment3 as inspector of animals, and he located at Roslyn, 
British Columbia, where he remained for seven years. In 1900 he began 
tbe practice of his profession anil in connection carried on a business of buy- 
ing, shipping and selling horses at Roslyn. In 1902 he resigned his govern- 
ment position and removed his place of business to Seattle. No one in the 
northwest possesses better credentials or a better record in his profession 
than does Dr. Hicking1x)ttom, as the important positions which he has filled 
would indicate ; during the brief period of his residence in Seattle he has 
established a large and lucrative patronage. 

During the Doctor's short residence in the states he has maintained an 
independent position in political affairs. In November, 1S84, he was mar- 
ried at Port Perry, Ontario, to Susan H. Huburtus, a native of Ashburn, 
that province, rmd a daughter of George and Isabelle (Nichols) Huburtus; 
the father is of German, and the mother of Scotch extraction. The Doctor 
and wife have two children, Fred Hubtu'tus and Isabelle. 

JOHN J. McGILVRA. 

An enumeration of the men of the present generation who ha\-e won 
honor and public recognition for themselves and at the same time have hon- 
ored the state to which they belong would be incomplete were there failure 
to make prominent reference to the one whose name initiates this paragraph. 
He holds distinctive precedence as a statesman, as a lawyer, as a distinguished 
pioneer, and although he has reached the evening of life, he is yet an active 
factor in Washington. His labors have been so beneficial and his influence 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 721 

so extended that along many lines of improvement, advancement and up- 
building- his work has contribvUed to the general good. 

Judge A'IcGilvra was born in Livingston county, New York, on the nth 
of July, 1827, and in his life he has exemplified many of the sterling char- 
acteristics of his Scotch ancestry. From the land of the heather in the year 
T740 came representatives of the name, founding the family in Washmgton 
county. New York. The original progenitor in yVmerica was the great- 
grandfather of our subject. The grandfather was born in Washington 
county, and there spent his entire life of seventy years as an industrious and 
energetic farmer. His son, John McGilvra. was also 1)orn in Washington 
county and was married there. He and his wife removed to Livingston 
countv, where they owned a farm, upon which they reared their family of 
seven children, only three of whom are yet living. 

Judge John J. ]\IcGilvra obtained his early education in western New 
York, and in 1844, when seventeen years of age, accompanied his parents to 
Illinois, wliere he became a student in an academy at Elgin. For some time 
he engaged in teaching, and in 1850 entered upon the study of law in Elgin, 
under the direction of the Hon. Edward Gifford, a graduate of Yale Col- 
lege and of the Cambridge Law School. Judge McGilvra finished his pre- 
paratory studies for the legal profession in Chicago under the preceptorship 
of Ebenezer Peck, afterward one of the judges of the court of claims, and 
was admitted to practice in 1853. lie then opened an office there, and while 
residing in that city had the pleasure of becoming acquainted with x\braham 
Lincoln. As the resuh of this acquaintance, when Mr. Lincoln became presi- 
ident he appointed Mr. McGilvra U^nited States attorney for Washington 
in 1861. While a practitioner at the Chicago bar our subject also became in- 
timately acquainted with Chief Justice Fuller, whose law office was on the 
same floor of the building as Judge McGilvra's. 

When the latter was appointed United States attorney for Washington 
he brought his family to the territory, establishing his home in Olympia, his 
time being occupied with the duties of tlie court. In the spring of 1862, 
howexer, he look his family east of the mountains, and in the fall located at 
Vancouver, where they resided until 1864. About that time Mr. McGilvra 
had become convinced tliat Seattle was to be the metropolis of the territory, 
and he removed to this city-, which has since been his home. After ably fill- 
ing the office of United States attorney for five years he declined reappoint- 
ment, in order to give his whole attention U. the practice of law. He also 
became interested in politics, and a man of strong nature, marked intellec- 
tual force and keen discernment, Mr. McGilvra would have found it utterly 



722 REPRESENTATIVE QTIZENS OF 

impossible to keep from taking an active part in the public affairs which 
shaped the political history of the territory. In 1866 he was nominated and 
elected on the Repuljlican ticket to the territorial legislature, and while a 
member of the house devoted considerable attention to procuring the pas- 
sage of a bill that secured an appropriation of twenty-five hundred dollars 
for the opening of a wagon road through the Snoqualine pass. Thus was 
secured the establishment of the first line of connection between the eastern 
and western parts of the territory except that afforded by the Columbia 
river. No other work which he could have performed would have been so 
beneficial to the territory in the development of Seattle and of this portion of 
the northwest, for it formed the only highway between eastern and western 
Washington north of the Columbia river prior to the time the Northern Pa- 
cific Railroad was built. The Northern Pacific Railroad Company seemed 
determined to suppress Seattle and blight its future by making Taconia its 
terminus, after the people of this city had ofl'ered many inducements for the 
extension of the line to this point. .A public meeting was then held, in which 
Mr. McGilvra ably advocated the building of another road. This resulted in 
the organizing of the Seattle and Walla Walla Railroad Company. Air. ]\Ic- 
Gilvra drew the articles of incorporation and the by-laws, and for several 
years transacted all the legal business of the company. In connection with 
Arthur ,\. Denny, James M. Colman and others, he became a most potent fac- 
tor in raising money and in securing the construction of the new line. This 
virtually checkmated the eft'orts of the Northern Pacific and gave to Seattle 
a road of its own. In the eft'ort the people of the city became very enthusi- 
astic, and some two miles of the road was graded by picnic parties composed 
of Seattle's population, men, women and children participating in the work. 
Toward this valuable enterprise ]\Ir. AIcGilvra gave sixty acres of land and 
his services for three years, and to his mental and physical efforts the success 
of the road was largely due. 

For two years Judge McGilvra was city attorney of Seattle, and spent 
the \vinter of 1876-77 in Washington, D. C, in prosecuting the claims of the 
city of Seattle to three hundred and twenty acres of land within the city lim- 
its under the town site law, in which he was sticcessful. While engaged in 
this prosecution his attention was called to the fact that the Northern Pacific 
Railroad Company was attempting to change its branch line from the Skagit 
to the Natchez Pass in the Cascade mountains, and for that purpose had 
filed an amended plan or plat of its branch line with the commissioner of the 
genei"d land oflice. Judge McGilvra at once called the attention of Judge 
Orange Jacobs, then delegate from Washington to Congress, to this fact. 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 72? 

and they both entered their protest against the same unless the withdrawn 
lands on the Skagit line were restored to settlement. He was subsequently 
emi)loyed by the people of King and other counties to assist Judge Jacobs in 
securing the restoration of these lands. In this attempt they were successful 
after a lengthy struggle, and five million acres were thereby restored to the 
people for settlement, although the Northern Pacific Railroad made a tre- 
mendous opposing effort. Judge McGilvra, however, was given the priv- 
ilege of the floor of the house by the speaker, and through the courtesy of 
Senator Mitchell had practically the same privilege in the senate. He ap- 
peared before all of the committee, made oral arguments and submitted 
printed briefs, and notwithstanding the great efforts made by a powerful 
railroad corporation he met with success, and the lands were restored, result- 
ing greatly to the benefit of this portion of Puget Sound. It was a great tri- 
umph and his victory was a deserving tribute to his able presentation of the 
cause of justice and equity. At first the Northern Pacific Railroad Company 
had discriminated against Seattle and seemed determined to crush out its 
future prospects, and it is now a gratification to the old settlers of the city 
that the company must ask favors of Seattle. Judge McGilvra is certainly 
entitled to much credit for the very able and active part which he took in be- 
half of this district in bringing the railroad company to terms. As a very 
talented attorney he won a high reputation and for many years was con- 
nected with nearly all of the important cases on the docket of his district. 
Through his active practice at the bar and through his investments in real 
estate he has become one of the wealthy men of Washington. He is pre-em- 
inently a self-made man and his prosperity is justly merited. He started out 
for himself in the twelftli year of his age. working first as a chore boy for 
four dollars per month and also working for his board and the pri\ilege of 
attending school. Subsequently he engaged in teaching in order to secure 
the means neccessary to pursue his own education, and thus his unaided ef- 
forts enabled him to advance steadily until he is now occupying a most prom- 
inent and honored place in Washington as a statesman of ability and as a 
lawyer of distinction. 

During the past fifteen years he has been ])ractically retired from the 
practice of law. giving his attention to his jjrivate interests and to the enjoy- 
ment which travel brings. He has visited the many interesting points 
throughout the United States, and has looked upon many scenes, historical 
as well as modern, in Europe. He is thoroughly acquainted with the Pacific 
coast from .\Iaska to the city of Mexico, and has visited Switzerland, Bel- 
gium. r.erni.Tin . Austria. France. England and Scotland, the land of his an- 



724 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

cestors. During the Civil war he was a member of the Union League and 
was a stanch adherent to the government in its efforts to preserve the Union. 
In 1863-64, while conducting law cases in the capital, he was introduced by 
Secretary Chase to Secretary Stanton, and was well received by them both. 
He did much valuable service in the removal of copperheads from office in 
Washington, Oregon and California. His efforts in behalf of Seattle have 
been of material benefit in ihe substantial improvement of the city. He has 
purchased several hundred acres of land on the city side of Lake Washing- 
ton, and from time to time has platted additions. He opened Madison street 
its whole length to the lake at his own expense in 1864-65, at a cost of fifteen 
hundred dollars. He subsidized the [Madison street cable railway to tha 
amount of fifty thousand dollars. He has erected a number of residences, 
still has large property holdings, and his own home, which is a palatial one, 
is situated on the lake. 

On the 8th of Februaiy, 1855, Judge ]\IcGil\ ra was married to Miss 
Elizabeth M. Hills, a native of Oneida county, New York, and a daughter 
of H. O. Hills of that county, who was descended from one of the prominent 
old Connecticut families. Five children have blessed this union,' three of 
whom are living, namely: Carrie E., now the wife of Judge Thomas Burke, 
one of the most prominent lawyers of Seattle: Oliver C, a member of the 
law firm of Burke, Shepard & ]\IcGilvra; and Lillian L., at home with her 
parents. Judge McGilvra was formerly president of the Pioneer Society 
of the state of Washington, and enjoys the highest respect of all who know 
him throughout the northwest. At the annual reunion in June, 1902, Judge 
McGilvra presented to the Pioneer Association a magnificent lot on the 
shore of Lake Washington, at the foot of Madison street and convenient of 
access, for a lionie. which was duly appreciated. While in practice he was 
regarded as the peer of the ablest members of the bar, and his ability won him 
distinction in legal and political circles at the capital. To-day he is resting 
from his labors at the close of a most useful career. It is said of an eminent 
man of old that he had done things worthy to be written, that he had written 
things worthy to be read, and by his life had contributed to the welfare of 
the republic and the happiness of mankind. This eulogy is one that can well 
be pronounced on Judge John J. McGilvra. 

JULll'S HORTON. 

From an earlv period Julius Ilorton has been prominently identified 
with the hi'^tory of this section of Washington, and now in his declining 
vears he is livin"- retired from the active duties of life, crowned with the 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 725 

veneration and respect which should ever be accorded to one traveling the 
downward path of life. He laid out and established the village of (George- 
town, in which he has long made his home, laboring for its promotion and 
welfare. He was born in Chemung county, New York, March 15, 1834, 
and is a brother of Dexter Horton, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in 
this volume. When but a boy Julius Horton accompanied his parents on 
their removal to Illinois, and in the Prairie state he received his early edu- 
cational training, and on putting aside his text books he turned his attention 
to agricultural pursuits. While a resident of that state he also spent about 
seven years in the mercantile business, but owing to ill health and a desire 
to join his brother in this state he came to Washington in 1869, the journey 
being made by railroad to San Francisco, this being shortly after the estab- 
lishment of the railroad to that point, and from there on the old ship 
Marmion. After spending about two years with his brother in Seattle, Mr. 
Horton purchased and located on land in the valley, a part of which tract is 
now owned by the present treasurer of King county and another portion 
forms the old race track. At the time of the purchase the place was known 
as the L. M. Collins donation claim, it being both prairie and timber land, 
but in time Mr. Horton succeeded in clearing it of its native growth of 
timber and placed the whole under a fine state of cultivation. In June, 1890, 
he and his wife laid out the town of Georgetown, which they named in honor 
of their son. Dr. George M. Horton, and they at once Ijegan the erection of 
a number of buildings and also their own fine residence, which is one of the 
best homes in the town. The place had a steady growth from the start, and 
this beautiful little village now stands as a monument to their enterprising 
spirit. They stiU own a number of lots here, which they are selling at a 
reasonable price in order to induce people to build in this locality. .Mrs. 
Horton has proved a valuable assistant to her husband in all his business 
ventures, and with him shares in the high esteem of the residents of this 
portion of King county. 

-Mrs. Horton bore the maiden name of .\nnie E. Eigelow. and her mar- 
riage to Mr. Horton was solemnized in Illinois. She is a sister of General 
Harry Bigeiow, a sketch of whose life will also be found in this work.- Four 
children ha\e been born to this union, as follows: George M., who is repre- 
sented elsewhere in this volume: Dora E., the wife of William A. Carle; 
Maud M.. who became the wife of Frank G. Edmund, who served as master 
at arms on the United States steamship Oregon, and was at the battle of 
Manila, and she died on the 23d of December, 1898: and Howard Dexter,' 
who is engaged in the study of medicine. The two eldest children were born 



720 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

in Illinois. Mr. Horton has been identified with the principles of Repub- 
licanism since the organization of that party, and on its ticket he has been 
elected to man)' positions of honor and trust. For four years he was the 
efficient deputy assessor, serving under both Chilberg and Hughes, and was 
afterward elected to the office of assessor, in which he was serving at the 
time of rhe disastrous fire in Seattle. For many years he also served as a 
school director. Fraternally he is a Mason, having joined that old and 
time-honored order forty years ago. He has given his aid in many generous 
ways to the perpetuation of those forces which conserve the best interests 
of the community, and the course that he has followed in political, business. 
social and home circles commends him to the high esteem of all. 

FRANK V. HY.AL\N. 

Incumljent of the responsible and exacting office of chief deputy grain 
inspector in the service of the state of Washington and maintaining his 
residence in the city of Seattle, Mr. Hyman is known as one of the pro- 
gressive and able young business men of the metropolis of the state, where 
he has lived for the past twelve years, and he is well entitled to definite con- 
sideration in this compilation. 

Frank V. Hyman is a native of the city of Logansport, Indiana, where 
he was born in .Vugust, 1862, the second in order of birth of the six chil- 
dren of Daniel and Martha (Reagan) Hyman. His father was born in 
Germany, whence he came to America when a youth, taking up a tract of 
land in Cass county, Indiana, at a point ten miles south of Logansport, the 
locality being known as Deer Creek. There he improved an excellent farm, 
being one of the honored and sul)stantial citizens of the community, and 
there he passed the remainder of his life, his death occurring when he was 
about fifty-five years of age. while his wife passed away at the age of forty- 
i\ye. Daniel Hyman was a stalwart supporter of the principles and policies 
of the Democratic party, in whose cause he was an active worker, having 
served as a member of the state central committee, but never having sought 
offi.cial preferment for himself. 

Frank V. Hyman was reared to the stuidy discipline of the farm, and 
his educational advantages were such as were afforded bv the public schools 
of his native state. He continued to assist in the work of the homestead 
farm until he had attained his legal majority, when he removed to Iowa, 
where he was engaged in agricultural pursuits for some time, and then went 
to North Platte, Nebraska, and was there identified with railroading for a 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 727 

period of three years. At the expiration of this time, in August. 1889, he 
came to Seattle and here secured a position as traveHng salesman for a cigar 
factory, covering in his field of lahor the greater portion of the northwest, 
and he was thus engaged for five years. He then engaged in the cigar busi- 
ness on his own responsibility, doing a general brokerage business and hav- 
ing his headquarters in Seattle. He successfully continued this enterprise 
until May, 1901, when he was appointed to his present position as chief 
deputy grain inspector, in which connection he is assisted by three sub- 
ordinates, and under his direction all incoming grain is carefully inspected 
on the cars, as well as that held in the elevators, while, if requested, grain 
for foreign shipment is also inspected. The duties involved are onerous, 
since an a\-erage of from fourteen hundred to fifteen hundred cars per month 
are inspected in the shipping season, the greater portion being in sacks, so 
that the amount of detail work required is very large. Mr. Hyman has 
proved a most capable and discriminating executive and his services are of 
great benefit to both the buyer and the seller. 

In his political allegiance Mr. Hyman is prominently identified with 
the Democratic party, in whose cause he has taken an active interest, having 
been a delegate to both city and county conx'entions since taking up his 
residence in Seattle, while he was also ])rominent in the local party ranks 
while residing in Iowa and Nebraska. At the age of twenty-one years he 
identified himself with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, but he has 
not maintained his active affiliation with the fraternity in recent years. He 
is a member of the Knights of Pythias, in which he has passed all the official 
chairs, also representing his lodge in the grand lodge of the state, and he 
also holds membership in the local lodge of the Woodmen of the World. He 
has taken a lively interest in all that concerns the advancement and well- 
being of his home city, and has here erected three residences. At Waterloo, 
Iowa, in 1886, j\Ir. Hyman was united in marriage to Miss Josie Garvie, 
and they have one daughter. Effie May. 

HERBERT S. U^PER. 

"A man of affairs" is a very apt and suggestive phrase, and, moreover, 
very complimentary to the individual so designated, for it is the men of 
affairs in America who hold the first places of distinction and not only re- 
ceive the material rewards in the way of wealth and prosperity, but are looked 
up til and respected by all their fellow citizens. It is no exaggeration to say 
that Mr. Upper deserves this peculiar American title, for in his life of little 



728 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

more than thirty }ears he has been engaged since he was in his "teens in the 
moil of business, wliere only the stalwart and persevering are able to stem 
the tide and be accounted victorious. 

He is the son of Canadian parents, and his father was a banker in St. 
Thomas, Ontario. He was born in Villia Nova, Ontario, November 5, 
1869. He was reared in the city of St. Thomas, and after finishing his 
course in the public schools took a college course. He early formed the in- 
tention of going to the country of opportunities, the great west, and, so, 
when he was still a boy in years, he went to the Pacific coast. Seattle was at 
that time, about 1889, ^ ^'^y of seventeen thousand population, and he de- 
cided that it was the place for him to locate and make the scene of his life 
work. Thus early he had formed a considerable knowledg'e of the value of 
timber lands, gained among the forests of the north, and his first investments 
were in this line. He kept steadily buying and has, perhaps, owned more of 
this kind of property than any man of his age in the state, if not without 
this limitation of age. The keynote of his success in these ventures seems to 
have been his infallible judgment as to timber values, and his foresight as 
to the increase of the lumber industry in the state of Washington has been 
rewarded, for these values at the present time have exceeded even his esti- 
mates. He has always invested Avith a safe margin and was one of the 
fortunate few who weathered the stonns of the financial stress of the early 
nineties, when those most solid financially were none too secure. And he 
exhibited his great confidence in the ultimate outcome of this period and the 
general stability of the country when he was the only one who would take 
mortgages on timber lands and other real estate. Mr. Upper has also dealt 
extensively in city property, both residences and business houses. He has 
laid out three additions to Seattle and has built a number of residences. That 
his business has steadily increased and is now carried on on a large scale 
may be inferred from the fact that he employs four persons in his ofiice and 
tv\o on the outside, who are all needed to manage the volume of business. 

But Mr. Upper has been occupied in other affairs as well as real estate. 
He delights in the life of the farm, and has an especial liking for stock. On 
his ranch east of Lake Washington there is some very choice stock, and he 
is a good judge of horseflesh, riding and driving some of his blooded horses 
constituting his ciiief diversion. He was one of the organizers and is the 
president of the Seattle Riding Club. All matters that have had the public 
good in A-iew have found in Mr. Upper a willing helper, and he is interested 
in several companies for the development of the resources of the state. He 
is a member of the Seattle Chamlier of Commerce, a stockholder in the 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 729 

Rainier Club, is connected with the management ul the King County Fair 
Association, and belongs to the Seattle Athletic Club. In church affairs he 
holds membership with the First Baptist church and is the treasurer. Mr. 
Upper has had his suite of offices in the Schermerhorn block for the past 
thirteen years; and in 1902 he built for himself a nice residence on East 
Jefferson street, near Eighteenth. 

ELWOOD HORTON. 

One of the busiest, most energetic and most enterprising men of Seattle 
is this well known contractor and builder, who is in every way a splendid 
type of our best American citizenship. His present residence, office and shop 
are at 717 Pike street, while his telephone number is Red 1716. A native of 
Indiana. Mr. Horton was born in Alarion county, that state, December 14, 
1855, liis parents being W illiam and Elizabeth (Mendanhall) Horton, both 
natives of Ohio, the former born in 1815, the latter in 1819. His paternal 
grandfather, James Horton. was a pioneer of Marion county, Indiana, where 
he located in 1830. He cleared a farm from a heavily timbered tract of land 
in that locality and endured all the privations incident to early backwoods 
life and the development of a new country. There he spent the remainder 
of his life engaged in agricultural pursuits. His wife bore the maiden name 
of Hay worth. Our subject's great-grandfather was captured by the In- 
dians and is supposed to have been killed by them. 

William Horton was one of a family of ten children, se\-en sons and 
three daughters, all of whom are now deceased. He was a lad of fifteen 
years on accompanying his parents on their removal to Indiana and in early 
life learned the carpenter's trade, which he continued to follow during his 
entn-e business career at West Newton, Indiana. He and his family were 
members of the Societ\- of iM-iends, and in politics he was a stanch abolition- 
ist and Republican. He was well known in business circles in that portion 
of the Hoosier state in which he lived, and erected there a great manv public 
buildings, churches, schoolhouses, etc. After a useful and well spent life 
ht died in 1889. and ins estimable wife pas.sed away in 1S93. 

In the family of this worthy couple were eight children, namely; John, 
who remained in Marion o unity. Indiana, where he served as dcpntv sheriff 
for fifteen years, was a soldier of the Ci\il war. being a member of the 
Twenty-eighth Indiana \'<)lunteer Infantry, and died in 1S81 at the age of 
forty years. Alfred, wlio was also a .soldier of the Civil war, is now en- 
gaged in the sawmill and lumber business in Morgan county. Indiana. Eme- 



730 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

line is tlie wife of Rev. John Stribling, a minister of the Friends church at 
Earlham, Iowa. Joseph is an undertaker of .West Newton, Indiana. Sarah 
A. is the wife of David Millar of Indianapolis, Indiana. James is connected 
with Alfred in business in Morgan county, Indiana. Elwood, our subject, 
is the next of the family. Jennie is the wife of Milton Osborne of Jewell 
county, Kansas. 

Elwood Horton was boni in West Newton, Indiana, and in that village 
grew to manhood, lacing indebted to its common schools for his educational 
privileges. At the age of sixteen years he began learning the carpenter's 
trade with his father, and after attaining his eighteenth year was associated 
with him in business. As his father grew old he assumed more and more the 
responsibility of the firm until he had entire control. In 1886 he removed to 
the city of Indianapolis, where he engaged in contracting and building until 
the fall of that year, when he went to Pasadena, California. There he was 
also engaged in contract work, largely on churches, public buildings, etc., 
remaining there until the spring of 1889, when he came to Seattle, where he 
has since engaged in the same line of business. He has erected many fine 
residences here and is regarded as one of the most reliable contractors and 
builders of the city, his work always giving the utmost satisfaction. 

Before leaving his native state Mr. Horton was married in Marion 
county, Luliana, September 13, 1883, to Miss Anna Coppuck, a daughter of 
Isaac and Judith (Russell) Coppuck, all natives of that county. Mrs. Hor- 
ton is one of a family of four children, the others being Calvin \\'esley and 
James, both residents of Indianapolis. Indiana: and William, deceased. To 
our subject and his wife have been Itorn three children, namely: Floyd E., 
Ralph W. and Edith F. Mr. and Mrs. Horton are both earnest and consist- 
ent members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and he is also connected 
with the Woodmen of the World. In his political affiliations he is a stalwart 
Republican and takes a commendable interest in public afifairs. 

AARON T. VAN DE VANTER. 

The term "captains of industry" is now a familiar one in the parlance 
of the day. It has sprung into existence as the result of business conditions 
which are shaping the history of this country and of the world. History is 
no longer a record of war and conquest, but is an accotmt of business achieve- 
ment and accomplishment, and the men who are prominent in public life are 
they who are conducting extensive and important enterprises in the business 
world. Mr. Van De Vanter is one of the representative citizens of Seattle, 




L 



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~1 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 731 

closely and actively associated with many lines which have contributed to 
the substantial upbuilding and improvement of the city as well as to his indi- 
vidual prosperity. He may well be classed among the "captains of industry" 
in Seattle, for he seems the personification of the term, his life being indeed 
busy and useful. He is now manager of the King County Fair Association, 
which is of great worth to the locality, stimulating business activity and 
bringing to the public notice the many lines of labor which are represented 
and the many natural resources which the country ofifers to its citizens. 

Mr. Van De Vanter was born in Sturgis, St. Joseph county, Michigan, 
February 25, 1859, and is a son of John F. Van De Vanter, who was born in 
Penn township, Delaware county, Ohio, in May, 18 19. The family is re- 
corded as among the settlers enumerated in the first census taken in Hunt- 
ington county, Pennsylvania, in 1790, in which year Peter Van Deventer (as 
the name was then written) was named as the head of a family of five sons 
and two daughters. He was the great-grandfather of our subject and one of 
the earliest settlers on the Juniata river, having removed to Pennsylvania 
from New Jersey. Although too old to serve in the Revolutionary war, he 
was an ardent patriot. He married Margaret Miller and they became the 
parents of eleven children, of whom the second, Jacob, is the grandfather of 
our subject. He was born in Huntington county, Pennsylvania, and fol- 
lowed farming throughout his life. In 1831 he removed to Indiana, locating 
there when the Indians were far more numerous than the white settlers. He 
became quite prominent in public affairs and served as one of the commis- 
sioners who erected the court house of Wayne county at a cost of two hun- 
dren thousand dollars, and his name is inscribed in that building. He mar- 
ried Lydia I'ee, a daughter of John and Patience (Kelly) Fee. of Hunting- 
ton county, Pennsylvania. John Fee was a loyal soldier in the Revolution- 
ary war and his widow was afterward granted a pension. His name is also 
on the census report of Huntington county of 1790. After the death of his 
first wife he wedded Jane Jackson. His previous military service as a Rev- 
olutionary soldier made him a valued fighter in the early Indian wars of his 
adopted state. 

Hon. John F. Van De Vanter, the father of our subject, is the only sur- 
viving member of liis father^s family. He was educated in the district 
schofjls and in a branch of the state university, and for two or three winters 
engaged in teaching school. He followed farming in both Indiana and 
Michigan, removing to the latter .state in 1857. There he resided for twenty 
years and took an active part in political affairs not because he desired public 
ofifice but because he believed it the duty of American citizens to thus support 



732 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

the principles of good government. He serxed as justice of the peace and 
superintendent of the poor, and his early political support was given to the 
Whig part)'. Later he became a stanch Abolitionist and subsequently joined 
tlie ranks of the Republican party. In 1887 he came to Washington and lo- 
cated on the farm which is now owned by his son Aaron T. After two years 
he retired from active life and now makes his home in Kent. He is a member 
of the Masonic order of that place and has taken the Royal Arch degrees. 
He belongs to the Presbyterian church of that place, is one of the elders and 
represented the church of Puget Sound at the general assembly at Saratoga 
Springs in 1896. In Greenfield Mills, Lagrange county, Indiana, on the 
25th of April, 1842, Mr. Van De Vanter married Elizabeth Dayton Thomp- 
son, a daughter of Aaron Thompson, a farmer of the Hoosier state. They 
became the parents of four children : William, of Chicago ; Edward, a phys- 
ician of King county; A. T., of this review; and Lizzie, the wife of W. W. 
Watson, of Kent. In 1892 the parents celebrated their golden wedding, on 
which happy occasion three of the children and many friends and relatives 
were present. In February, 1898, however, Mr. \'an De Vanter lost his wife 
after a most happy married life covering fifty-six years. She was an earnest 
Christian woman, and in her family was a devoted wife and mother. 

Aaron T. Van De Vanter pursued his education in the public schools 
and spent his boyhood days on his father's farm, where he remained until 
1883. He then made his way to Washington, for he had heard of the hops 
grown here and realized that the industry might be a profitable one. Ac- 
cordingly he settled in the White River valley and purchased a farm near 
Kent which was but slightly improved. To-day, howe\'er, he has three hun- 
dred acres of richly cultivated land there, and his agricultural interests have 
been of an important character. He enjoys the reputation of being the larg- 
est shipper of asparagus on Puget Sound, and his annual sales of this vege- 
table bring to him a good financial return. In his dairy business he is also 
prospering, and has a herd of one hundred head of fine cattle. He has al- 
ways been a lover of fine horses and has bred some very valuable ones. He 
owns the stallion Erect, a full brother of Direct, bred liy the stallion Monroe 
Salisbury. He also has the stalhon Pathmark, with a record of 2:i^}i. 
This horse has been on the road for three years and has taken many prizes. 
Mr. Van De Vanter continued to reside on his farm until his removal to the 
city in order to take charge of the county fair. He was one of the incorpo- 
rators of the King County Fair Association, which was organized in 1901. 
His idea is to make this a great and permanent exhibit of the resources of the 
comnumity. In it are represented one hundred and ten classes of manufac- 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 733 

tv^res, beside its mineral and fishing industries and all of the various depart- 
ments of agriculture and horticulture. The exhibits already made have 
awakened wide interest and have been creditable to the city and surrounding 
country. Mr. Van De Vanter deserves great credit for what he is accom- 
plishing in this respect. Such an institution always stimulates effort and 
causes the different representati\ es of business enterprises to do their best 
in securing for such exhibits the finest products of which they have control. 
It becomes a matter of local pride which reflects directly upon the business 
activity and prosperity of a locality. In connection with James F. McElroy 
Mr. Van De Vanter purchased and subdivided three hundred acres of the old 
Page farm at Black River Junction into five-acre tracts. 

On the 24th of June. 1900, Mr. \'an De Vanter was married at Kent 
to ]Miss Martha May Triplett. a daughter of F. A. Triplett, of that 
place. Mr. Van De Vanter is very prominent and popular in social circles 
and his name is on the membership roll of many social and fraternal organ- 
izations. He belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Ancient 
Order of United Workmen, the Knights of Pythias fraternity and the uni- 
formed rank of Woodmen of the World, the Royal Arcanum and holds an 
honorary life membership in Seattle Lodge No. 92, Benevolent Protective 
Order of Elks, of which he is past exalted scribe. He takes a very active 
part in Masonry and is a prominent member of Verity Lodge No. 59, of 
Kent, in which he is a past master. He likewise belongs to Seattle Chapter 
No. 3, Royal Arch Masons, Seattle Commandeiy No. 2. Knight Templars, 
and Afifi Temple of the Mystic Shrine of Tacoma. In the first grand lodge 
of which he was a member he was one of a committee to expose the noted 
swindler Fleming. He has ever endeavored to uphold the dignity of the 
order and in his life exemplifies its beneficent principles. 

In his political affiliations Mr. Van De Vanter is a stalwart Republican, 
unswer\ing in his allegiance to the party. He served as mayor of Kent, and 
he was later elected to the state senate. He served during the first full term 
of four years and was chairman of the committee on appropriations He 
was widely recognized as one of the active working members of the upper 
house and his keen insight into public questions, his loyalty and patrotism 
were manifest in many important acts of legislation. Before his term as 
senator had expired he was nominated to the office of sheriff and later was re- 
nominated, but was defeated by the combination of Populists and Demo- 
crats. Two years later, however, his name was again placed upon the county 
ticket for office and he was chosen sherifif, although every other Republican 
candidate on the ticket was defeated except the assessor. He handled sue- 



734 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

cessfully the greatest jail-break in the record of the county. He took charge 
of the office on the 14th of January and on the 17th of March twenty-three 
prisoners' broke jail, but he succeeded in capturing them all without the loss 
of life. Mr. Van De Variter was president of the first live-stock board of the 
state, being chosen to that office on the organization at Ellensburg. He de- 
serves to be classed among the substantial builders of the great northwest, 
and has performed his part nobly in establishing and maintaining the ma- 
terial interests, the legal status and moral welfare of his community. 

EDWIN A. STROUT. 

Edwin A. Strout belongs to the little group of distinctively representa- 
tive business men who ha\'e been the pioneers in inaugurating and building 
up the chief industries of this section of the country. He early had the busi- 
ness foresight to realize Seattle's future growth and importance, and acting 
in accordance with the dictates of his faith and judgment he has prospered 
with the growth of wSeattle and of the state of Washington. He is now con- 
nected with many extensive and important business interests. At the pres- 
ent time he is secretary of the Brick Exchange, representing nearly all of 
the brick manufacturing interests of this section ; secretary and a large owner 
in the Seattle Brick & Tile Company; vice president of the Seattle Ice Com- 
pany ; and senior member of the firm of E. A. Strout & Company, fire, 
marine and liability insurance agents. His business interests are extensive 
and such as demand his active attention. 

Mr. Strout is a native of New Hampshire, having been born at Conway, 
July 26, 1862. His father, Bennett P. Strout, was bom in Maine and led an 
active l:)usiness life until about fifteen years ago, when lie retired from busi- 
ness and went to Philadelphia, where he now lives. During the greater part 
of his business career he remained in New Hampshire. He has now attained 
the age of eighty-three years and is still active and well. In public affairs 
he has been an active worker. He served as county commissioner and in 
other local official positions and for several years was a member of the New 
Hampshire house of representatives. VV'hile living in ]\Iaine he was united 
in marriage to Abbie Woodruff, daughter of Erastus Woodruff, of Lyndon, 
Vermont. They had two children, the elder being Charles H., a resident of 
Philadelphia and proprietor of St. Luke's School for Boys. On both sides 
of the family the ancestry can be traced back in this country to the seven- 
teenth centur\r. The father is a descendant of John Strout, who came to 
Boston. Massachusetts, in 1630. from England. On the Woodruff side the 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 735 

lineage runs back to 1664, when Matthew Wootlruff came from England 
and was one of the original eighty-four settlers of Farmington, Connecticut. 

Edwin A. Strout of this review pursued a portion of his education in 
Conway, New Hampshire, and afterward became a student in an academy 
at W'olfboro. in the graded schools at Dover and in the business college at 
Manchester. New Hampshire. In 1879 ^e entered upon his active business 
career, becoming connected with the subsistence department of the army. 
He was first sent to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, where he remained for some 
months, acting as clerk for his uncle, Captain C. A. Woodruff, commissary 
of subsistence. United States Army. From there he went to Santa Fe, New 
Mexico, where he acted as chief clerk for Captain Woodruff until the fall of 
1884. During this time he saw a great deal of active service in the Apache 
Indian troubles of that period. In 1884 he came with Captain Woodruff' to 
A'ancouver barracks. Washington, where he was stationed until he came to 
Seattle. In 1885 he made up his mind to engage in business for himself, 
and with this end in \iew investigated the prospects offered in the \-arious 
cities of Oregon and Washington, making a trip in that year to Tacoma and 
Seattle. Deciding that Seattle offered the best prospects for a young man 
he came here in January, 1887. He then organized the Puget Sound Ice 
Company for the manufacture of artificial ice, and erected a plant at West 
and Seneca streets in the spring of 1887. This was the first ice plant ever 
operated on Puget Sound. He was connected with this company until the 
plant was destroyed in the general conflagration of 1889. He then assisted 
in the organization of the Seattle Ice & Refrigeration Company, which 
erected a large plant at \'esler. This company was later changed to the 
Seattle Ice Company, and the plant was removed to its present location in 
this city. In 1889 Mr. Strout was one of the organizers of the Washington 
Territory Investment Company, was elected its first vice president and later 
was made president. This company bought the lot on the northwest corner 
of Second Avenue and Cherry street and erected, in 1889-90, the building 
now known as the Post-Intelligencer building. Mr. Strout retained the 
management of this building until it was sold in 1902. In 1888 he was as- 
sociated with George FI. Heilbron in the organization of the Seattle Brick 
& Tile Company and has acted as its secretary continuously since that time. 
These enterprises have furnished employment to a large number of men and 
ha\e contributed greatlv to Air. Strout's success as well as aitling in the up- 
building of Seattle. 

.•\t Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, in 1889, Mr. Strout was united in mar- 
riage to Cora Taylor, a daughter of Major Frank Taylor, of the I'nited 



736 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

States army, and they have two children, Edwin A. and Helen. In 1884 
he erected his residence on Marion street, between Summit and Boylston 
avenues. In politics he is a Republican. He is a member of St. Mark's 
Episcopal church, and of Mt. Hood Lodge No. 2-, F- & -^- M. He has 
always taken a prominent part in the social and club life of Seattle, being 
one of the organizers of the Rainier Club, Country Club and Golf & Country 
Club. He is a man of strong individuality and perseverance and is justly 
entitled to rank with the prominent men of Seattle. 

CLARENCE W. COULTER. 

There is more than ordinary interest attaching to the career of the gen- 
tleman whose name initiates this paragraph, for not only is he a native son 
of the state of Washington and a representative of one of its sterling pioneer 
families, but he has also personally been conspicuously identified with the 
great idustrial interests and activities which ha\'e brought about the mag- 
nificent development of this favored section of the northwest; while his 
youth was passed amid the scenes and environments of the pioneer epoch, so 
that his memory forms a chain linking the period of inception with that of 
latter-day opulence and prosperity. Thus it will at once be seen how con- 
sistently may a review of his life history l^e incorporated in a publication of 
this nature. Mr. Coulter maintains his home and business headquarters in 
the city of Seattle and is here secretary and manager of the Excelsior & 
Wooden Ware Manufacturing Company, agent for the Burke building, one 
of the finest business blocks in the city, and also has other interests of 
marked importance. 

Mr. Coulter traces his lineage, on both sides, to stanch English origin, 
the respective families having been established on American soil in the early 
colonial epoch, while it is a matter of record that his paternal great-grand- 
father was an active participant in the war of the Revolution, while he sub- 
sequently removed to what is now the middle west, then the very frontier of 
civilization, and took part in the Black Hawk Indian war. Samuel Coulter, 
the father of the subject of this review, came to Oregon as one of the pioneers 
of 1850, and within the following year took up his abode in that part of 
Oregon territory which is now comprised in the state of Washington. He 
was born in West Virginia, whence he went to Ohio, and when eig'hteen years 
of age started on the long and perilous overland trip across the plains to 
Oregon, starting from the city of St. Louis, Missouri, with a large company, 
the wagon train wending its way o\-er the weary stretches of plain and 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 737 

mountain, and the party being sufficient in number to repel the attacks of the 
hostile Indians, who menaced the train on several occasions while enroute. 
He came to Oregon City, which was at that time the principal settlement in 
the territor}-, arriving at this point after having passed six months on the 
journey. He there became identified with tlie lumbering business, contin- 
uing operations until 1852, when he went to Colorado on a mining expedi- 
tion, being quite successful in his efforts, and returning to Oregon in the 
spring of the following year. He then turned his attention to the cattle busi- 
ness, his branding corrals being located where the thriving little city of 
Eilensburg, Washington, now stands, the site jjeing unmarked by a single 
dwelling at that time. He continued very successfully in that enterprise 
until 1877, when he removed to the city of Portland and purchased the land 
on which the Edmond Hotel now stands, that building having been erected 
by him. He leased the hotel property and gave his attention to dealing in 
timber lands upon an extensive scale, having become the owner of alxjut 
five thousand acres of valuable land of that character, and having acquired 
other desirable realty all up and down the Sound. In 1880 he took and com- 
pleted the contract for the building of the line of the Northern Pacific Rail- 
road between Cheney and .Spokane Falls, and in the fall of that year he 
again returned to the Sound and engaged in the cattle business. In addition 
to continuing this enterprise, in 1883 Mr. Coulter resumed the logging 
business, constructing for the purpose a standard-guage railroad six or more 
miles in length and utilizing on the same the first donkey engine brought 
into requisition in connection with the lumbering business in this section 
of the Union. The line was at the head of the North bay, and the logs 
handled on the same were sold to various mills operated on the Sound. In 
1886 he disposed of his cattle business, but he continued to be prominently 
identified with the lumbering industry until 1893, since which time he has 
devoted his attention to general trading operations, maintaining his home and 
business headquarters in the city of .Seattle. Mr. Coulter has been promi- 
nent in political affairs from the earlv territorial days of Washington, and 
at one time he owned and published a paper in the capital city, Olympia, in 
the interests of the Republican party, of whose principles he has ever been 
a stanch advocate. President Grant appointed him to the office of internal 
revenue collector for the territory of \\'ashinglon. and he was in tenure of 
the same at the time when the districts of Washington and Oregon were 
combined, and he was then tendered the position as collector for the entire 
district. But the demands of his private business aft'airs rendered it inex- 
pedient for him to contiiuie in the office, whose duties would have required 



738 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

his absence from his headuqarters too great a portion of his time. Mr. 
Coulter lias ever been known as a public-spirited, loyal and progressive citi- 
zen of the Evergreen state, giving his aid and influence in the support of 
schools and churches and all other worthy enterprises fostering development 
and conserving the general welfare. During the Indian war of 1855 he was 
first lieutenant in the militia raised to repel the attacks of the savages. 

In Oregon, in 1853, Samuel Coulter was united in marriage to Miss 
Harriet E. Tilley, who had accompanied her father, Judge Abraham Tilley, 
to Oregon in the year prior to her marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Coulter became 
the parents of thi^ee sons, namely: Clarence W., the immediate subject of 
this sketch; Esmond, deceased; and Alvah S.. who is identified with mining 
enterprises, and who resides in the city of Seattle. 

Clarence W. Coulter was born on the prairie farm in Thurston county, 
Washington, about twenty miles from the city of Olympia, the date of his 
nativity having been December 6, 1856. His early educational discipline 
was recei\'ed in ihe public schools of the capital, while in 1872 he .went to 
Oregon, where he continued his educational work for a period of fi\'e years. 
After leaving school he became identified with the operation of steamboats, 
and thus continued about two years. He then returned to Olympia and 
became associated with his father in the cattle and lumbering business, this 
relation existing until 1893. In 1888 he also became interested in mining 
and prospecting enterprises, and became a prominent operator. He erected 
a ten-stamp mill near Juneau, Alaska, and had mining interests from that 
distant division of our national domain to California, and, as he had charge 
of the cattle business, he made Seattle his headc|uarters. He disposed of 
the Junerai mines and mill in 1892, and in the following year went to Cali- 
fornia, where he remained until the spring of 1896, when he went to Cook's 
Inlet, at the time of the gold excitement in that district. In the following 
year he joined the stampede to the Cariboo country in British Columl)ia. and 
there remained during that summer. In 1898, under the contractor D. A. 
Robinson, Mr. Coulter had charge of the construction of the elevators and 
docks of the Great Northern Railroad at Smith's Cove, and since that time 
he has given more or less attention to speculating in timber lands, in which 
line his operations have been successful, for not only is he an excellent judge 
of values, but he also has that keen business sagacity which enables him to 
handle the various projects with the best results. In April, 1900, ]Mr. Coul- 
ter effected in Seattle the organization of the Excelsior & Wooden Ware 
Manufacturing" Company, which enterprise is the only one of the sort in the 
state and he has been secretary and manager of the company from its incep- 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 739 

tion. He is also secretary of the W'enatchee Development Company, which 
o\\ ns the town site and large tracts of land contiguous tliereto, of Wenatchee, 
Chelan county. This company platted the town and has done much to 
further its development and progress. In April, 1901, Mr. Coulter took 
the agency of the Burke building, and has charge of rentals and other details 
of management of this fine structure, which contains four stores and one 
hundred and fifty-nine modern office rooms, the building being six stories 
in height and located on Second a\-enue. 

In politics Mr. Coulter gives an unqualified allegiance to the Republican 
part}-, and while he has never sought official preferment he was elected a 
member of the city council in 1883, serving efficientl}- and laboring to ad- 
vance the best interests of the municipality. He is alert and progressive, 
fully typifying that spirit which has brought about the magnificent develop- 
ment of the great northwest, and his course has e\-er been such as to retain 
to him the unequivocal confidence and esteem of all who know him. In the 
city of Seattle, in August, 1882, Mr. Coulter was united in marriage to INIiss 
Helena B. Smith, and of this union two children were born, Clarice, who 
died at the age of one year ; and Chester, who remains at the parental home. 

JOSEPH L. JENOTT. 

Ij the history of Joseph Lachapelle Jenott was written in detail it would 
furnish many a chapter of more thrilling interest than any book of fiction. 
He has undergone all of the experiences of life amid the mining regions of 
Alaska. He came to Seattle in April, 1888, and from this point went to the 
cold northern region. He was born in Xew Glasgow. Canada, on the 19th 
of April. 1863, and comes of French lineage. His father, Frank Jenott, 
was also born in Canada and was a carpenter by trade, following that pur- 
suit continuously for more than sixty years. He now lives retired in Seattle. 
He was but fourteen years of age when he removed from Canada to Massa- 
chusetts and there learned the carpenter's trade in I'ittsfield, but later re- 
turned to Canada, in which country he was married. The, family has re- 
sided for many generations in America, .and the father is now living retired 
in a ]ileasant home which was erected for him by his son Joseph in 1901. 

Joseph L. Jenott had but limited educational privileges in the public 
schools of his native country, but through observation and experience he has 
atlded largely to his knowledge and is now a well-informed, if self-educated, 
man. At the age of seventeen j'ears he left Canada and went to Michigan, 
where be was connected with the logging interests of that state, spending 



740 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

about eight years in that way in }vlichigan and Wisconsin. In 1888 he came 
to Washington, having read of the country, its advantages and opportuni- 
ties. Beheving that it would be a good field of labor he and his brother made 
their way to the coast and took up their abode in Seattle and engaged in 
chopping wood on Queen Anne Hill, now one of the most beautiful residence 
districts of the city, but then all covered with timber. As the man for whom 
he was working could not pay him, Mr. Jenott purchased a team and hauled 
the wood off for himself, and so gained a very comfortable financial return 
for his labor, as prices were very high at that time on account of the extra 
demand for lumber caused by the great fire which had occurred in Seattle 
in June. 1889. 

Mr. Jenott started in business at Ballard, but tliere he suffered losses 
by fire on two dift'erent occasions in the same month, and as he had no insur- 
ance he was thus badly crippled financially. In 1894 he felt a desire to go 
to Alaska, and in the following spring sold his interests in Seattle, locating 
his family in that city, and in 1895 took passage on a boat for Alaska. At 
Juneau he purchased thirty dollars' worth of provisions, thence proceeded to 
Dyea and from there walked over the summit. It required forty-five days 
to make the trip from Seattle to Forty ilile. and when he arrived there he 
had onlv seventy -five cents remaining. He then went on a prospecting tour 
in that locality and also at Sixty !Mile creek. He made some little money 
in helping a couple in transporting their goods, and in the fall he went to 
work cutting wood in order to get money needed to buy provisions. The 
following spring a stampede started on American creek, and his partner 
wanted to go there, but as ilr. Jenott had to get something which would 
bring him in an income sufficient to keep his family, he and his partner there 
separated. In the fall Mr. Jenott went to what is now Dawson, and staked 
a claim which he afterward sold for one hundred dollars. In the fall of that 
j'ear, 1896, he returned to Seattle and spent the winter with his family, but 
in the spring of 1897 again went to .-Vlaska, proceeding to Dawson, where 
the town was just being established. He took a claim on Twenty-one. above 
Bonanza, and this proved a profitable move, as he cleared up a good stake 
on it. In the summer of 189S ^Ir. Jenott returned to Seattle, but in 1899 
again went to Alaska, and made two trips that year, getting machinery- .to a 
claim on Dominion. This was placed in working order in 1900. and ilr. 
Jenott then made a trip to Paris. In 1901 he returned to Dominion and 
disposed of his property there, again coming to Seattle in June of that year. 
Here he has since made his home. 

On the 2d of October. 1S90. was celebrated the marriage of Joseph L. 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 741 

Jenott and Miss Mary Sliemuin, a daughter of Chris Sherman of this city. 
They have two daughters, Winnie antl Lena. In the fall of 1898 Mr. Jenott 
built his pleasant home at 2520 Fifth avenue, designing all of the work him- 
self. He has also erected two other houses here, including one for his father, 
built in 1901. He has in\ested in uther cilv properiv in Seattle, antl uwns 
a good business block which brings him in a \cry desiral)le rental. Mr. 
Jenott is a plain, unassuming man, Init jiossesses strong worth oi character 
and has gained many friends. He is numbered among the honored citizens, 
and his earnest efforts have contributed to the improvement of Alaska and 
to the work of opening up that district to the uses of the white man. 

W. C. WEEKS. 

Though li\ing upon the Pacific coast. Mr. \\'eeks was born on the 
Atlantic slope, and at one time was a resident of Florida, so that the places 
of his activity are widely scattered. His birth occurred in Lancaster, New 
Hampshire, February 25, 1863, his parents being William D. and Helen 
(Fowler) Weeks. His father, also a native of Lancaster, was born Feb- 
ruary 28. 1818, while the mother was born in Woodstock, Connecticut. 
Both were of English descent and lived for many years in happy wedded life 
at Lancaster, but were separated in death in 1884, when Mr. Weeks was 
called to his final rest. His wife survived him and died in 1897. 

W. C. Weeks obtained his early education in the public schools of h.is 
native city and later studied in the academy there. His youth was passed 
upon the home farm, and he assisted in its cultivation until twenty-one 
years of age, when he left home and in 1S86 took up his abode in Orlando, 
Florida, where he was engaged in the dairy business for about two years. 
In 1889 he came to Washington, locating at North Bend, King county, and 
for two years occupied a position as srdesman in the store of (iusten & 
Tibbetts, who then made an assignment. Mr. Weeks later purchased tjie 
store from the assignee and conducted the business from 1892 until 1897, 
securing a good patronage and meeting with fair success. .-\.t the same time 
he operated a shingle mill and conducted a hotel. For the past three years 
he has been ct)ntracting and logging, owning large tracts of timber land in 
the vicinity of North Bend and shipping the logs to points on the sea coast. 
He has built up a good business in this line and is thus connected with one 
lit the mcist imixirtant industries of the northwest. He is a Re|)ublican in 
his ])oIitical \iews, but has no time nor inclination for jjublic office, preferr- 
ing to give his attention to his well managed business affairs, which are bring- 
ing to him excellent returns. 



742 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

WTLLIAAI R. BRA\\LEY. 

\\'illiam R. Brawley, one of the leading business men of the city, has 
made his home in Seattle since 1879, actively interested in all measures 
advanced for the good of the people, and has performed his full share in the 
development and improvement of the city. He was born in Meadville, 
Crawford county, Pennsylvania, on the 20th of February, 1840, and is of 
Scotch. German and Irish descent, his ancestors having been among the 
first to locate in the United States. His grandfather, James Brawley, was 
a native of Eastport, Pennsh^^ania, but later became a prominent settler of 
Crawford county, that state, and William R. Brawley, the father of our sub- 
ject, was the first white child born in that county. James Brawley was a 
farmer and lumberman by occupation. In his family were eleven children, 
and he attained to the good old age of eighty-three years, leaving behind him 
at his death a record for honorable and upright dealing. 

William R. Brawley, the father of our subject, married Miss Jane 
Stewart, of Erie county, Pennsylvania, and her ancestors were from the 
north of Ireland, and were also among the early settlers of this country. 
j\Ir. Brawley followed the tilling of the soil as a life occupation, and in addi- 
tion he also owned and operated a flouring nrill. Both he and his wife were 
valued and active members of the Methodist cb.urch, and for many years he 
served as superintendent of the Sunday-school. For the long period of 
forty }ears he was also a justice of the peace. His death occurred when he 
had reached his seventy-fourth year, but his wife long survived him, pass- 
ing away at the age of ninety-three years and three months. To this worthy 
couple were born five children. 

\\'illiam R. Brawley, the sul)ject of this review, was reared and received 
his education in the place of his nativity. He had just attained to mature 
j-ears when the great oil discoveries in Pennsylvania were made, the famous 
Drake well, the first one to be successfully operated, being located within 
twenty miles of his home, and he and his three brothers at once began work 
in the oil fields. Purchasing the necessary tools, the)- began constructing 
wells by contract, but soon they were able to lease land and construct wells 
on their own account, at one time owning as high as twenty-five wells and 
leasing twelve thousand acres of land. Their principal well, known as the 
Troutman, produced a flow of eight hundred and fifty barrels of oil a day. 
In 1879, however. Mr. Brawley and his brother D. C. became convinced of 
the many advantages to be secured in Seattle, and accordingly the former 
came to this city to make investments, while the brother remained in the east 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 743 

and continued to look after their interests there. After a residence here of 
ten years the great fire occurred, and like many others j\lr. Brawley met with 
heavy losses, but with characteristic energy he at once began the work of 
retrieving his lost possessions, and is now the owner of much city property 
and one of the leading business men of the city. He has been especially in- 
terested in the purchase and improvement of farming lands, and is also one 
of the owners of the Bell & Crown copper and gold mine, also of the Copper 
Whale mine, near Index, both valuable properties. In 1883 his brother, 
DeWitt Clinton Brawley, joined him in Seattle, and together they continued 
operations in this city until they were separated by the hand of death, the 
brother passing away on the 14th of March. 1900. He was a member of the 
Baptist church, and his loss was deeply mourned in this community, but his 
memory is enshrined in the hearts of scores of his old friends and associates, 
to whose interests he was ever faithful. 

In 1882 was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Brawley and Miss Ger- 
trude Parkhurst. She, too, is a native of Pennsylvania, and is a daughter 
of Henry Saxton Parkhurst, a descendent of an old Swiss family who were 
early settlers of Vermont. Her great-grandfather, Elim Parkhurst, was 
a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and her father fought throughout tlie 
period of the Civil war, during which time he was twice taken prisoner, ixit 
each time made his escape. At the close of the war he entered the ministry 
of the Methodist Episcopal church, continuing imtil his death in 1875, ^^ 
which time his wife and family came to Seattle, where they have since 
resided. To Mr. and Mrs. Brawley hfive been born four children, all natives 
of Seattle, and the two now living are W. Parkhurst and Edith. The fami- 
ly are prominent members of the Methodist chrnch. In 1888 Mr. Brawley 
erected a beautiful and commodious residence at 302 Ninth a\enue. where 
his family and also his brother's widow and children now reside, and all 
are held in high regard by many frientls and accpiaintances. 

J. H. PAYNE. 

Daniel Payne, the father of the subject of this brief biography, was a 
native of Ohio, born there on April 9, 1822, and after reaching manhood 
followed farming in the states of Pennsylvania, Indiana and Illinois. Dur- 
ing the Civil war he followed the flag of the Union and died at Springfield, 
Illinois, in February, 1863. His wife, Sarah J. Wheeler, was born in 
Kentucky December 27, 1828, and died at Xenia, Ohio, in February. 1896. 

Their son James H. was born on a farm in Whitley county, Indiana, on 



744 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

the 1 2th day of September, 1849; 1^^ worked 011 his father's farm in the sum- 
mer and learned the lessons of the district schools in the winter in Porter and 
Laporte counties, Indiana, and in his eighteenth year left home to farm on 
his own account, continuing till 1876. In March, 1877, he went to Sher- 
man, Texas, where for four years he engaged in the different pursuits of 
stock-raising, contracting, butchering and farming. In June 1881, he 
moved to Bureau county, Illinois, where he engaged in agriculture for eight 
years, and in March, 1889. arrived in King county, Washington. He took 
up a homestead on the Snoqualmie river five miles from Fall City ; he spent 
mi'.ch time and labor in clearing and improving this land and in 1895 traded 
it for town lots and farm property at Fall City, where he now resides and 
devotes his attention to farming and stock-raising. 

Mr. Payne has always taken an active interest in the affairs of the 
Republican part}-, and is chairman of the Republican precinct committee, 
has served as constable for several years and is usually a delegate to the 
nominating conventions of his party. Mr. Payne's marriage was celebrated 
at Princeton, Illinois, on January 5, 1873, when he became the husband of 
Hester A. Morton, who was born in Henry county, Illinois, in 1853, her 
mother being a native of Canada, and her father of Ohio. They are the 
parents of six children : Fred Morton, Franklin L., Elmer E., Elsie E., 
David and James Clayton. Mr. Payne is a man of much ability, of straight- 
forward, honest purposes, and seeks to advance the best intersts of city and 
county. 

CARL KLEINSCHMIDT. 

Nowhere are men so thoroughly grounded in the principles of edi'.cation 
and in science generally as in the great German empire; and the educated 
German is the synonym of the well rounded, broad cultured man, who may 
be depended upon to execute affairs of great importance and requiring pow- 
ers of mind an(;l persistence. One of such men and one who has accom- 
plished the saving of large sums of money to the shipping interests of the 
world by his inventions and study, is Carl Kleinschmidt, the gaieral man- 
ager and treasurer of the Atlantic and Pacific Pile and Timber Preserving 
Company, whose offices are located at 429-430-431 Burke building at Seattle, 
Washington, and the laboratories and works including the boring- machines 
are on the tide flats. 

Mr. Kleinschmidt was born and reared in Prussia, received a liberal 
education and then went to the famous mining school at Clausthal, where 




I^^y^^ ^/^i^^^^.ai^2yC^^^ 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 745 

he studied under his uncles, Professor Bode and William Klemschmidt, and 
completed a thorough course in mining, mastering all the technicalities and the 
practical work of mining, including the concentrating of ores by hydraulics. 
At the age of twenty he enteredthe Prussian army to complete his military 
duty in the Fourth Army Corps in the fortress at Magdeburg. His coming to 
America was in i860, and he first located at St. Louis, Missouri, where for 
two years he engaged in mining aigineering and concentrating in the lead 
districts. In 1863, in Lawrence, Kansas, he was enrolled in the Third Reg- 
iment, Kansas troops, and appointed master of transportation for the divis- 
ion, under command of General Williams, and served till the close of the war. 
He then went across the plains and landed at Confederate Gulch in Diamond 
City, Montana, where he engaged in hydraulic and quartz mining and mer- 
chandising, later was engaged in stock-raising and grazing on a large scale 
in Deer Lodge county on the Big Blackfoot river, and was also in wholesale 
merchandising in Hekna, Butte and Bozeman; he was successful till the 
winter of 1888, when he met with severe losses in cattle, horses and sheep. 
In 1 89 1 he operated in the Slocan country and on the Salmon river, and in 
he next year came to Seattle and has ever since been engaged in mining 
operations in the northwest. In 1898 he went to Dawson and as a mining 
engineer located and purchased thirty- four claims, some of which he still re- 
tains, principally the copper claims near Five Fingers on the Lewes river. 
But it is in a more scientific direction that Mr. Kleinschmidt has been 
chiefly successful. He is also a student of chemistry and has for many years 
maintained a private laboratory, where he has assayed quartz and ores, sam- 
pled out of mines on which he made reports, and of other districts to get 
familiar with the formations, acquiring an increased knowledge of the di- 
verse mining districts and ore values. About eight years ago, during his fre- 
quent traveling on the Sound and Pacific ocean, his attention was called to 
the vast losses caused by the ravages of the teredo, or ship-worms, on the 
wharves, docks and other marine and submarine constructions, and the great 
expense entailed by the replacing of t!ie material destroyed by these worms. 
He therefore determined to thoroughly experiment and ascertain if some ef- 
fective chemical compound might not be applied to the marine and submarine 
wood construction to make it immune from the attacks of this pest and of 
other mollusks. After extended observation and study he arrived at two im- 
portant conclusions : that the processes then in use were neither the most ef- 
fective nor the cheapest, and that chemicals could be so united with some suit- 
able medium as to penetrate ever\- fibre of the wood in the submarine con- 
struction and render it absolutely impervious to the attacks, at the same time 



746 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF ■' 

increasing the durability of the timbers; and he finally produced the com- 
pound which promises to displace all previous primitive and crude attempts 
to accomplish this end. The modus operandi consists of making a longi- 
tudinal bore through the timber, with which a lateral bore connects; after 
the timber is in place the cavity is filled with the liquid compound either from 
the top or side, and the fibres become so permeated that the pile is rendered 
practically immune from the teredo attack; where the boring is impractical, 
the same result is gained by immersion of the timbers. This method has also 
been found equally efficacious in countries where the termite, or white ant, 
is the scourge of all wood structures. On October 4. 1901, Mr. Kleinschmidt 
filed application for a patent in the United States office, which was duly 
granted, and recently steps have been taken to secure patents in foreign coun- 
tries. In January, 1902 the Atlantic and Pacific Pile and Timber Preserv- 
ing Company was incorporated with paid up capital stock of two million 
dollars, and with Dr. Thomas MacGuire as president, Carl Kleinschmidt as 
general manager and treasurer, and George B. Cole as attorney and secre- 
tary; the main office is at Seattle. The company has secured a site of six 
hundred feet frontage on the water front, where the plant, laboratory, bor- 
ing machines and pile booms are located, and it is satisfactory to note that 
all details for carrying on the business have been completed. The company 
also owns the patent right for the boring machine invented by Mr. Klein- 
scmidt, which is so constructed that a boring of almost any length and diam- 
ter in the center of a timber shaft can be made in a short time and at low cost, 
making the machine available to bore conduits and pipes for many other 
purposes. 

Mr. Kleinschmidt was married in Germany to Miss Emma Marie Carus, 
a native of that country' ; she has not only been to him an excellent wife from 
a domestic standpoint, but is herself a business woman and is one of the 
directors of the company. They have become the parents of ten children, 
five of whom survive; their son Kurt, who was lost on the fated steamer 
Elbe in 1894, was also a mining and engineer metallurgist of great promise 
and with fine qualifications, having completed six years of study in one of 
the best technical mining schools of Europe, that in Freiburg, Saxony. The 
other children are: Cari, Jr., the manager of the Montana Copper Com- 
pany; Henry, a hydraulic mining engineer in Alaska; Emma K. is the wife 
of Leo Sutor, of Los Angeles; Anna K. is the wife of Mark David, of Seat- 
tle; and Marie K., the yoimgest daughter, is still at home with the family in 
their fine residence at 312 Seventeenth avenue. Mr. Kleinschmidt has al- 
ways been firm in his adherence to the Republican party, and is a member of 





.i;^'^^^^'*— o 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 747 

the James A. Sexton Post, Grand Army of the RepubHc. Such is a brief 
sketch of a man whose work and influence have been no doubt of great vakie 
not only to his own community but to the world in general, and although he 
is very near seventy years of age, he looks and feels hale and hearty, so that 
no one would attribute to him such advanced years. 

JAMES A. MOORE. 

To the energetic natures, keen discernment and strong mentality of such 
men as James A. Moore, the president of the I\Ioore Investment Company of 
Seattle, is due the upbuilding and improvement of the city, and in the hands 
of this class of citizens there is every assurance that the best interests and 
welfare of the city will be conserved. The life of our subject has been one 
of continuous activity, and to-day he is numbered among the substantial res- 
idents of Seattle. His interests are so thoroughly identified with those of 
the northwest that at all times he is ready to lend his aid and co-operaion to 
any movement calculated to benefit this section of the country or advance its 
material development, and while his labors have brought to him individual 
prosperity, no man in Seattle has done more to beautify and improve the city 
or to produce its splendid and attractive appearance than James A. Moore. 

.A native of Nova Scotia, Mr. Moore was born on the 23d of Octoljer, 
1861, and is of Scotch-Irish ancestry. The family was founded in Nova 
Scotia in the seventeenth century by James Moore, who emigrated from the 
north of Ireland in 1650. He was one of the pioneers of the country and 
established on American soil the family of which our subject is a representa- 
tive in the fifth generation. During all the intervening years the Moores 
have for the most part tieen merchants, ship-owners or masters of vessels, 
and in religious faith they have been Presbyterians and Congregationalists. 
James Moore, the grandfather of our subject, was born in Nova Scotia, and 
was largely interested in ships and shipping, but not only did he become very- 
prominent on account of his extensive business interests, but was also equally 
well known and honored because of his leadership in public affairs. His la- 
bors lormed an integral part of the history of that land. He married Miss 
Agnes Sutherland, and lived to the advanced age of eighty years. They 
were the parents of nine children, of whom five are yet living. Their son. 
Andrew K. Moore, was born in Nova Scotia on the estate which had been 
in the possession of the family for two hundred years, and like his father he 
became one of the prominent representatives of ship-building and shipping 
interests in his native land. At one time he was the owner of fortv sailins: 



748 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

vessels. He married Miss Isabel McClellan, a lady of Highland Scotch an- 
cestry, born in Nova Scotia, and their union was blessed with six children. 
The parents held membership in the Congregational church, in which Mr. 
Moore served as an elder. He contributed most generously to the support of 
the church and was one of its most prominent and influential members. In 
politics he was connected with the Conservative party, strongly endorsing its 
principles. A life of prominence, of honor in business and of fidelity to every 
duty made him one of the most honored and respected citizens of his native 
land. He died on the 5th of May, 1900, at the advanced age of seventy-four, 
having for a number of years survived his wife, who passed away at the age 
of sixty-four. 

James A. Moore was educated in the public schools of his native coun- 
try, and after his graduation in the high school he became associated with 
his father in the shipping business, with which he was connected for a num- 
ber of years. In 1886 he came to Seattle and was well pleased with the city. 
He deemed its future bright, and he soon began to invest in city real estate 
and to engage in its improvement. Since that time he has been one of the 
most prominent factors in the growth of the city, and his labors have been a 
most potent element in adding to the beauty of Seattle. In 1897 he organized 
the Moore Investment Company, which was capitalized for one hundred 
thousand dollars, and at once engaged in purchasing tracts of land and plat- 
ting additions to the city, foreseeing the demand for land which would be 
made by the city's rapid growth. He platted Latona, Brooklyn and Uni- 
versity Heights, and other smaller tracts, which have been largely built upon, 
extending the city's area and adding to it many desirable residence districts. 
In 1901 he began platting and improving Capital Hill on a gigantic scale, 
expending over one hundred and fifty thousand dollars in improvements 
there. The addition comprises two hundred acres in a most attractive and 
delightful portion of the city, commanding a most magnificent view of the 
bay and a wide extent of scenery which partakes of the nature of the sub- 
lime, the mountain peaks towering into the regions of eternal snow. Mounts 
Rainier, Baker, St. Helens and Hood may all be seen, with altitudes of 
eleven, twelve, thirteen and fifteen thousand feet respectively, standing guard 
over the beautiful city which lies nestling at their base with the broad and 
shimmering bay before it. On the hill one hundred fine residences have al- 
ready been built and one hundred are in process of construction, so that 
within an almost incredibly short space of time Capital Hill will have taken 
its place as the most beautiful and desirable residence district in the city. 
The minimum cost of these homes is three thousand dollars, and some of 
them partake of the nature of palaces. 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 749 

It was Mr. Moore who planned and built the Lincohi apartment house 
of Seattle. It is a building- one hundred and twenty feet square, seven stories 
in height and containing seventy-two elegantly finished and furnished apart- 
ments, the lot and building costing two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. 
It was not only the first but the finest apartment house west of Chicago, cred- 
itable alike to the city and to him whose business sagacity and ability made it 
possible. It is occupied by people of wealth in the city and is a paying invest- 
ment. In the past three years and a half Mr. Moore has brought to the city 
of Seattle for investment over two million and a half dollars, which has been 
invested in business enterprises and business property here, placing him de- 
cidedly in the lead of those who have contributed largely to the improvement 
of the city and its material prosperity. He built the first block of concrete 
sidewalk in the residence district of Seattle. He let the first contract for 
asphalt street paving in the residence district, it being three miles in length. 
He built the Lumber Exchange building, at a cost of two hundred and fifty 
thousand dollars, a six story office building on Second avenue and Seneca 
street. He built the Arcade building on Second avenue, covering the entire 
block from University to Union streets, having a frontage of three hundred 
and si.xty feet on Second avenue. It is as yet the largest building constructed 
in Seattle, and was erected at a cost of three hundred and fifty thousand dol- 
lars. He also constructed the Whitcomb, Estabrook, Curtiss and other busi- 
ness blocks. All of these different buildings and improvements stand as mon- 
uments to the enterprise, thrift and progressive spirit of Mr. Moore. 

In 1885 Mr. Moore was married to Miss Eugenie G. Jones, a native of 
Denver, Colorado, and a lady of superior culture. They are members of the 
Plymouth Congregational church, of which Mr. Moore is a trustee, serving 
as chairman of the board at the present time. He is a valued member of var- 
ious prominent clubs of this city and is a Knight Templar Mason. In polit- 
ical thought and action he has always been independent, carrying out his 
honest views without fear or favor. In business he has achieved success 
through honorable effort, strong executive force, power of organization and 
capable management, while in private life he has gained that warm personal 
regard which arises from kindliness, geniality, deference for the opinions of 
otl'.ers and true nobility of character. 

JAMES McCLINTOCK. 

In an analysis of tlie character and life work of James McClintock. we 
note many of the characteristics which have marked the Scotch nation for 
many centuries — the perseverance, reliabilty, energy and unconquerable 



750 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

determination to pursue a course that has been marked out. It is these sterl- 
ing quahties which have gained for Mr. McCHntock success in hfe and made 
liini one of tlie substantial and valued citizens of Washington. 

Mr. McClintock was born at Borhead, near Glasgow, Scotland, about 
1847. His father, Robert McClintock, was a native of the north of Ireland 
and by trade was a boot and shoe-maker, following that calling in Scotland 
for a number of years. On leaving the land of hills and heather he crossed 
the Atlantic to New York city, where he engaged in business for several 
years, but his death occurred in Scotland, about 1852. His wife was in her 
maidenhood Catherine Algey. She. too, was a native of Scotland, and died 
there the same year in which her husband's death occurred. 

James McClintock was thus left an orphan when only five years of age. 
He went to live with an aunt in Paisley, Scotland, where he attended school 
for two years, but when a youth of nine he became dissatisfied with his home 
surroundings and secreted himself as a stow-away on the vessel Trogan, 
bound from Greenwich to the West Indies. There the captain of the ship 
Cherokee took a fancy to the lad and made him a member of the ship's crew. 
They were on a cruise to Brazil, New Foundland and Liverpool, thence to 
British North America and to the Mediterranean sea. In tlie waters of that 
sea Mr. McClintock became a member of the crew of the ship Blue Catherine, 
sailing to South America and returning by way of Gibralter and Liverpool, 
to Glasgow. There he joined another vessel, bound for Burmah, India. 
and returned from there on the American ship Southern Rights to London. 
Soon afterward he made a trip to Cuba and the United States, and for two 
years during the period of the Civil war, was sailing on the lakes between 
Chicago and Buffalo. Returning to London he shipped for Bombay, India, 
where he entered the service of an English ship bound for Burrard Inlet, 
British Columbia. 

At that point Mr. McClintock abandoned his seafaring life of nearly 
twenty years, during which time he had visited many ports on the face of 
the globe. He took passage from Victoria for Alaska, where he spent 
one summer in bartering for furs with the Eskimo Indians. After dispos- 
ing of his cargo at Victoria, he went to Port Discover}', Washington. There 
he worked in the sawmills and in the logging camps and also at Port Ludlow 
and Port Blakeley. Thus two years were passed, and in the fall of 1870 he 
went up the White river in a canoe, spending the winter in hunting and 
trapping on White and Green rivers. The following year he took up a pre- 
emption claim of one hundred and sixty acres on Newankum creek, at what 
is known as Porter's Prairie. This he clearetl and improved and afterward 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 7Si. 

purchased a tract of railroad land of eighty acres, adjoining his first pur- 
chase, thus becoming the owner of one of the most valuable farms in King 
county. He devotes his attention to stock-raising, dairying and farming, 
and his business has been profitably conducted. When lie located on this 
place there were no white people in the immediate vicinity, and lie lived for 
a long time in a primitive cabin while he carried on the work of transforming 
the dense forest tract into an attracive farm. In later years he built a hand- 
some residence and other substantial and modern buildings and now has 
one of the best improved farm properties in this portion of the state. 

On the 19th of June, 1883, Mr. McClintock was united in marriage in 
Glasgow, Scotland, to Martha Sprott, who was born in that city in 1862 
and was educated in the old Monklen school near there. After leaving 
school she lived with the family of her future husband for seven years, 
assisting Mrs. McClintock in an extensive dry goods and general mercantile 
business at Paisley, Scotland. The father, James Sprott, is still living 
and is now manager of coal mines in Scotland. Her mother, whose maiden 
name was Matilda Wilson, died in Glasgow about 1885. The marriage of 
Mr. and Mrs. McClintock has been blessed with nine children, as follows: 
James, Mattie, William, Mary, Ida, Jessie, Emily and Robert, all living at 
home. They also lost one daughter, Katie, who died in July, 1900, at the 
age of fifteen years and six months. 

In his political views Mr. McClintock is independent, casting his ballot 
without regard to party affiliations. He was a charter member of Crystal 
Lodge, F. & A. M., at Enumclaw, and had joined the Masonic order in Glas- 
gow-, Scotland, as a member of Star Lodge No. 219, F. & A. M. He has 
had an eventful career and his life history, if written in detail, would furnish 
many interesting and sometimes exciting chapters, for during his seafaring 
life he had many experiences such as are unknown to the landsman. Since 
his arrival in King county he has made the most of his opportunities, and 
to-day stands as a leading representative of agricultural interests here. 

OLI\ ER DYER COLVIN. 

It has often been stated and commented upon that the L^nited States has 
always presented great opportunities to men of industrv', ability, honesty and 
integrity, and as long as men have the aspirations and the determination to 
improve their condition in life and win the success which it is possible to 
attain, the theme will never be exhausted. 

One of the most prominent of Washington's business men, whose enter- 



752 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

prire and sound judgment have not only promoted his individual prosperity 
but have advanced the public welfare, is Oliver D. Colvin. He is manager 
of the Seattle agency of the American Steel & Wire Company, whose gen- 
eral office is in Chicago, and which is one of the constituent companies of the 
United States Steel Corporation. His territory embraces the state of Wash- 
ington, Alaska and northwest British possessions. He is also vice-president 
of the Snoqualmie Falls & White River Power Company, the largest power 
company in the northwest; the power being generated by water in the foot- 
hills of the Cascade mountains, transmitted some forty miles, and furnishing 
power for the cities of Seattle and Tacoma. 

Mr. Colvin was born in Coldwater, ]\Iichigan, on the I2th of June, 1867, 
is of Holland and Scotch-Irish descent, and comes from families who left the 
old world for the new about the year 1700. The Colvins selected for their 
home the vicinity of Lake Champlain and the beautiful Lake George in New 
York, where many of them still reside, not unknown to the political and 
social life of the state. On the maternal side he is a descendant of the 
Richeys and Updykes of lower New York and New Jersey, a strain of Hol- 
land with Scotch-Irish blood. The Richeys owned large plantations worked 
by their negro slaves before the time when a humane legislature of New 
Jersey abolished slavery in that state. 

Mr. Colvin's grandfather. Colonel Oliver D. Colvin, was a prominent 
citizen of that commonwealth, a member of the state legislature, and a colo- 
nel of the militia. He afterwards became a prominent citizen of Coldwater, 
Michigan, and his death occurred there at the early age of forty-four 
years. His son, Hiram M. Colvin^ was born in the latter city in 1841, and 
has now reached his sixty-second milestone on the journey of life. In 1864 
he married Miss Lucy Shutts, who was born in Sandusky, Ohio. Her father 
was a prominent man in the state of New York, w^as a member of the legis- 
lature and a colonel of the militia. This in a measure may account for the 
fact that the subject of this sketch early took an interest in military affairs, 
and became a commissioned officer of the militia of the state of Kansas before 
he was of age. 

In i860 Hiram M. Colvin removed with his family to Missouri, where 
he engaged in farming and stock-raising, dealing principally in thoroughbred 
Hereford cattle. They later, in 18S2, took up their abode in Burlingame, 
Kansas, where he continued farming and stock-raising, afterwards moving 
to Osage City, Kansas, where he engaged in grain and mercantile business 
until 1888, and there his wife still resides. In their family are four children, 
consisting of three daughters, Lida May, now ^Ivs. J. K. Schoonmacher, a 
resident of Spokane, Washington ;. Jessie Maude, who is unmarried and resid- 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 753 

ing in Spokane; Nellie Madge, who married George Williams, connected 
with the Kansas City Journal of Kansas City, Missouri; and the subject of 
this sketch. 

O. D. Colvin received his primary education in the schools of Missouri, 
attended the high school at Burlingame, Kansas, where he graduated and 
afterwards entered Baldwin University. After putting aside his text books 
he was engaged in business with his father until his twenty-first year, when 
he experienced that longing for the far west which has ever beckoned the 
young men who are ambitious and are willing to assist in building up a new 
country, and he left his parental home and removed to the Pacific coast, ar- 
riving in Tacoma, Washington territory, in June, 1888. He was engaged in 
different pursuits, and assisted in the surveying of a portion of that city; 
also assisted in planning and building the city of Fairhaven and the surveying 
of the Fairhaven Southern Railroad. Within eighteen months time he wit- 
nessed the growth of the last named place from a village containing four 
buildings to one of several thousand inhabitants. After returning to Tacoma 
he engaged in the real estate business there, acquiring considerable property. 

In 1890 he came to Seattle, as it seemed to him even at that time that it 
was destined to be the great commercial city of the Pacific coast, and the fol- 
lowing year accepted the position of chief deputy assessor of the county of 
King, and for a number of years thereafter was connected with the treas- 
urer's and assessor's offices. In the spring of 1894 he was appointed deputy 
United States marshal by James C. Drake, ably serving in that position dur- 
ing the trouble with "Coxey's army" and the Great Northern strike. He was 
actively engaged in several riots and disturbances, where his military train- 
ing was of great assistance. 

In August, 1895, 1^^ was appointed auditor of the Seattle Consolidated 
Street Railway and the Rainier Power & Railway Company, the two com- 
panies representing the street railway system of the city of Seattle, and in 
December of that year was made receiver of the Front Street Cable Railway 
Company, under authority of United States circuit court, which position he 
filled so satisfactorily for four years that on the reorganization of the com- 
pany he was appointed general manager of the road by its former bond- 
holders, and continued in its management until August, 1899. 

In 1896 Mr. Colvin was made a special officer and given full authority 
to investigate the feasibility of the Northern Pacific Railway Company, con- 
structing their cars at their Tacoma and Seattle shops, to be loaded with local 
products, thereby making an earning while in transit, and be sold to eastern 
railway companies. In that capacity he visited New York, where he inter- 



754 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

viewed the officers of the Northern Pacific Railway Company, and ahhough 
his plan was considered feasible and practical, it was never carried out owing 
to the reorganization of the Northern Pacific Railway Company at that time. 

In June, 1897, without any solicitation on his part, the local agency of 
the Washburn-Moen Manufacturing Company was tendered Mr. Colvin, this 
company representing a capital of nine million dollars; and two years after 
his connection with them it was merged into the American Steele & Wire 
Company, consolidating practically the rod and wire interests of the United 
States, and with a capitalization of ninety millions of dollars. In December, 
1900, the United States Steel Corporation, known as the "billion dollar trust," 
was also incorporated, absorbing the American Steel & Wire Company and 
making it a part of the largest corporation in the world. Mr. Colvin is their 
only representative in the northwest, his ofilce being located at 108 West 
Washington street, Seattle, where he has well appointed offices and an excel- 
lent corps of clerks. The company also has a large warehouse in the city at 
115-117 First avenue south, built of brick, sixty by three hundred feet in 
extent, with a floor space of thirty thousand feet, having a carrying capacity 
of three thousand pounds to the square foot. Seattle is the second agency of 
importance on the Pacific coast, ranking next to San Francisco, and as the 
representative of the territory tributary to Seattle Mr. Colvin has won for 
himself an enviable reputation in business circles. 

In his social relations he is a member of the Rainier Club, the Country 
and Golf Club, Tainis Club, Firlock Club and the Seattle Athletic Club. On 
the 24th of October, 1894, in Seattle, occurred the marriage of Mr. Colvin 
and Miss Eva Victoria Amery, she being a native of Wisconsin, but of Eng- 
lish descent, as both her father and mother were born and reared in the city 
of London. One son, Oliver D. Colvin, Jr., born March i, 1899, has blessed 
this union. The family reside in a beautiful home at 11 17 Cherry avenue, 
on First Hill, where they dispense a gracious hospitality to their many 
friends. They are members of St. Mark's Episcopal church. Mr. Colvin 
exercises his right of franchise in support of the men and the measures of the 
Republican party, and all movements for the public good receive his hearty 
support and co-operation. 

WILLIAM T. SCOTT. 

William T. Scott, a successful and able legal practitioner of Seattle, 
was born in Union county, Kentucky, on the 30th of October, 1846, and is 
of .Scotch descent, his ancestrv lieing among the earlv settlers of both Vir- 




-^A '^L.^^Zf- 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 755 

ginia and Kentucky, and they were Presbyterians in their religious faith. 
The great-grandfather of our subject, Thomas Scott, was a soldier in the 
Revolutionary war, and became one of the prominent and influential citizens 
of Kentucky, in which commonwealth his son, Thomas Scott, was born. 
The latter became a well known and extensive farmer, and attained promin- 
ence in both Kentucky and Illinois, his death occurring in Galesburg, of the 
latter state, in 1859. 

William Scott, the son of the latter Thomas Scott, was born in Meade 
county, Kentucky, on the 8th of June, 1821. In early life he became con- 
nected with steamboat work on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, and rose to 
the position of captain, in which capacity he served his government through- 
out the period of the Civil war. As a companion on the journey of life he 
chose Miss Indiana Roberts, a native of the state of Indiana. In an early 
day her people were identified with the Whig, and afterward with the 
Republican party. During the war of the Rebellion .seven of her brothers 
nobly defended the starry banner on the battle fields of the south, and four 
of them laid down their lives on the altar of their country, three dying in 
battle, while the fourth was stricken with disease. The union of Mr. and 
Mrs. Scott was blessed wih three children, all of whom are still living. 
The father was called to his final rest in 1868, dying from exposure received 
while ser\ing in the defense of his country. In the same year his loving wife 
joined him in the spirit world. 

William T. Scott, son of these parents, received his literary education 
in the Indiana State University, in which institution he was graduated in 
1869, and while a student there he also prepared for his law practice. In 
Harrison county, Indiana, in 1871, he embarked in the practice of his 
chosen profession, remaining there for four years, oa the expiration of which 
period, in 1875, he removed to York county, Nebraska, and there continued 
his chosen profession until 1890. Since that time he has been a resident of 
Seattle, and during his connection with the courts of King county has won an 
enviable place among his professional brethren and as a practitioner has 
secured a liberal clientage. On attaining to mature years Mr. Scott cast 
his first presidential vote for General Grant, and since that time has remained 
an ardent adherent of Republican principles. In 1879, while following the 
practice of law in Nebraska, he was made the nominee of his party for the 
state legislature, and was successful at the following election, serving in that 
honorable office with efficiency. He also had honor of being elected pros- 
ecuting attorney of York county, Nebraska, and was one of the delegates 
to the national convention which nominated James G. Blaine for president 



756 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

of the United States, being very active in procuring his nomination. In 
Seattle Mr. Scott was the corporation counsel of the city from 1894 to 1896, 
and his ability has enabled him to grace the many positions which he has 
been called upon to fill. 

The marriage of Mr. Scott was celebrated in 1871, when Miss Sarah 
J. Miller became his wife. She is a native of Harrison county, Indiana, 
and to their union have been born three children, Charles A., Thomas A. 
and Clara K. The elder son is chief clerk to the corporation counsel, while 
the younger son is a student in the law department of the University of 
Washington. Mr. Scott became a member of the Masonic fraternity at 
New Albany, Indiana, in 1870, and is now a Master and Royal Arch Mason 
and a Sir Knight Templar. Both at the bar and in the political circles of 
King county he occupies an enviable position, and wherever known is 
honored and esteemed for his many noble characteristics. 

FRANK LEWIS WHEELER. 

Frank Lewis Wheeler was born in the city of Brooklyn, New York, 
January 13, 1866; received his education at Adelphi College in Brooklyn and 
after his graduation went into his father's wholesale jewelry store, in which 
business he remained until August, 1889, when he came to the then territory 
of Washington and located at Seattle. In 1890 he moved to Gray's Harbor, 
Washington, and erected a saw mill, in which business he was engaged until 
the summer of 1892. He then sold out his interests in the Gray's Harbor 
country and moved to North Yakima, Washington. There he was engaged 
for some months in surveying, being at work on the Sunnyside canal, which 
was being constructed at that time; also on one or two others of the large 
irrigation enterprises. 

In March, 1893, Mr. WHieeler purchased the Fruit Vale ranch. Since 
that time he has been actively engaged in the growing of fruit and has taken 
great interest in the products of his state, having early identified himself with 
the North West Fruit Growers' Association, of which he was vice president 
for the state of Washington for several terms. Appreciating the fact that 
the exportation of fruit from the state of Washington would be one of the 
most important industries, he has become associated with and an active 
member of the firm of H. S. Emerson Company, Incorporated, the oldest 
wholesale fruit house on Puget Sound. Mr. Wheeler is a stanch Repub- 
lican, believes in expansion, and it is his intention to place the Washington 
fruits in Siberia and all the oriental countries. Mr. Wheeler and his asso- 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 757 

ciates have, no doubt, a bright future for their business. The firm is well 
and favorably known and with an abundance of capital and new energy, 
there seems to be no limit to their ambitions. 

D. McL. BROWN. 

David C. and Mary (IMcMullen) Brown were natives of the Isle of 
Man, and the former came in youth with his uncle to the new world, settling 
in Canada and engaging in farming. In 1888 he removed with his family 
to Seattle, Washington, and resided with his sons till his death, which oc- 
curred in January, 1901. He took part in public affairs to some extent in 
Canada and was a member of the Presbyterian church. His wife, who 
died in Canada in 1877, was the mother of six children: Kate; D. McL.; 
Duncan and William, members of the Seattle Bridge Company; George, 
also with that company; and Charles Neil, in Nome, Alaska. 

D. McL. Brown was born to the above named parents in Ontario, Can- 
ada, June 5, i860, and was reared on a farm and received a common 
school education. At the age of twenty-one he moved with his family to 
Manitoulin Island in Lake Huron, where for the next seven years he and his 
father and his brothers were engaged in getting out timber for the railroad 
companies. The year 1877 was the date of his coming to Seattle, and for 
the ne.xt two years he was employed in various capacities, but then accepted 
a position with the Moran Company as foreman of the construction of their 
first dock and water ways, remaining with the firm for four years. In the 
meantime the Puget Sound Pile Driving Company had been organized, and 
on leaving his previous employment Mr. Brown became a partner in this 
enterprise. The original company was formed by Brown Brothers, D. A., 
William A. and C. N. Nettleton, together with other prominent business 
men of Seattle, but on the entry of our Mr. Brown into partnership the 
name was changed to Brown Brothers, and in Decemljer, 1890, it was or- 
ganized as the Seattle Bridge Company, with R. W. Ledgewood and James 
McPherson as part owners. In 1895 Mr. Ledgewood disposed of his in- 
terest to the company, and in 1898 Mr. McPherson sold his, and the present 
Seattle Bridge Company, with offices at 511-12 Pacific block, is composed 
of D. McL., D. A., W. A. Brown and Clark M. Nettleton. They are exten- 
sively engaged in the building of coal bunkers, in dredging and making 
harbor improvements, and they also construct steel combination and Howe 
truss bridges, do pile-driving and wharf-building. They received a govern- 
ment contract for the improvement of the harbor at Everett, and to complete 



758 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

this work the company bought at great expense a hydrauHc dredge, and tugs, 
scows and a complete equipment for that kind of work. They have taken 
some of the largest contracts let by the government on the Pacific coast, one 
of them amounting to four hundred thousand dollars. They built the White 
Star dock for the Northern Pacific Railroad, the Yesler pier No. 2 for the 
J. B. Agen Company, constructed five bridges across the Snohomish river 
for the Great Northern, and dredged the waterway of Smith's cove from 
the level of twenty-six to thirty-four feet below tide in order to accomodate 
the larger ships. In 1897 they built the government dock at Sitka and in 
1898 the first dock at Skagway for the Pacific Coast Company, the steamer 
Alki being the first vessel to land at the dock. In April, 1902, the company 
purchased the Port Orchard rock quarry at a cost of thirty thousand dollars, 
and they will use this valuable ledge of basaltic rock for rip-rap and maca- 
dam work. The invested capital of this enterprise is a quarter of a million, 
and thus it is one of the soundest companies form the standpoint of financial 
reliability and business management in the west. 

On August 31, 1899, Mr. Brown was married to Miss Mary E. Graham, 
a daughter of Harvey Graham, a native of Toronto, Canada, whence his 
parents removed to Michigan: from 1900 till his death in the following year 
Mr. Graham resided with Mr. and Mrs. Brown. Mr. Brown is a stanch 
member of the Republican party ; judging by the success of what may be 
reasonably considered the first half of his life, a still brighter future awaits 
him, and he will no doubt always be numbered with the leading business men 
of the Pacific coast. 

IRA A. NADEAU. 

Ira A. Nadeau is a general agent of the Northern Pacific Railway Com- 
pany at Seattle and is a prominent factor in the transportaion interests of 
the northwest, his superior business ability and executive force well qualify- 
ing him for the discharge of the important duties of the responsible position 
which he now occupies. He has been a resident of Seattle since January, 
1883, and comes from the Mississippi valley, his birth having occurred in 
Monroe, Michigan, on the 23d of January, 1856. He is of French ancestry 
on the paternal side, while on the maternal side the ancestors can be traced 
back to a family of English birth that was early established in New York. 
The paternal grandfather, Joseph Nadeau, settled on the Raisin river, near 
Monroe, Michigan, in 1804, becoming one of the pioneers of that state. 
In fact, few had ventured within the confines of Michigan at that time, the 
work of improvement and progress having been scarcely begim. He servetl 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 759 

his country as a soldier in the war of 1812 and was a very loyal and progres- 
sive citizen, and contributed his full share to the early development of his 
adopted state. From the government he secured a tract of land which he 
improved, and on which he carried on farming for many years. He at- 
tained the ripe old age of eighty-six years. His wife, who bore the maiden 
name of Mary Guior, was also of French lineage. 

Philip Nadeau, the father of our subject, was born on his parents' farm 
near Monroe, Michigan, in 1824, and was there reared and educated, becom- 
familiar with all the duties and labors that fall to the lot of the agriculturist. 
He married Miss Lucy Begnell, who w'as born in Cattaraugus, New York. 
In order to provide for his family he followed merchandising for many years 
in Monroe, Michigan, becoming an active factor in the commercial interests 
of the place. He prospered in his undertakings and as the years passed 
accumulated a comfortable competence. He died on the 3d of February, 
igo2, at the age of seventy-eight years, in the town where almost his entire 
life had been passed, and where in public affairs his usefulness was widely 
felt. He had been called to fill various positions of honor and trust ; was 
a member of the city council and was sheriff of the county. A man of high 
integrity of character and of business ability, his town and county ranked 
him among their valued representative citizens, and when he was called to 
his final rest Monroe mourned the loss of one who was ever known to be of 
upright life, trustworthy and honorable in all his dealings. His good wife 
still survives him and is now in the seventy-eighth year of her age. This 
worthy couple were the parents of eight children, all of whom are yet living. 
One of the sons, H. P. N., resides in Spokane, Washington, and with the 
exception of our subject is the only member of the family living in this 
state. 

Ira A. Nadeau was the fifth in order of birth, and to the pul)lic school 
system of Monroe he is indebted for the literary advantages which he en- 
joyed. Thinking to make the practice of law his life work, when he had put 
aside the text books used in the public schools he entered the office of Edward 
Willits. who later was a member of congress and assistant secretary of 
agriculture under President Harrison. After a thorough training, in which 
he largely mastered the greatest principles of the science of jurisprudence. 
Mr. Nadeau was admitted to the bar in the year 1878 and began the practice 
of his profession in his native town, where he remained for three years. 
On the expiration of that period he removed to Lincoln, Nebraska, with the 
intention of opening an office there, but on meeting with friends, business 
propositions were presented to him which turned his attention into other 



76o REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

channels. The firm of Stephens, Waters and Nadeau was organized for the 
purpose of engaging in the hmiber trade, and this was conducted success- 
fully until 1883. At that time Mr. Nadeau sold his interest in the firm 
and came to Seattle. He entered into business relations in this city in con- 
nection with the Oregon Improvement Company in order to secure its right 
of way and lands. He afterward served as its local treasurer and also of the 
Puget Sound Shore Railway Company, continuing in the latter position 
until the road passed into the possession of the Northern Pacific Railroad 
Company, which now has an entry into Seattle. Mr. Nadeau had become 
agent for the Puget Sound Railway Company and remained in that position 
until the line was absorbed by the Northern Pacific Railway Company in 
1890. In that year he was made general agent of the Northern Pacific and 
so continued until September, 1893, at which time he resigned from the 
operating department of the road and became the general agent of the line, 
continuing in the latter office up to the present time. 

Since his arrival in Seattle Mr. Nadeau has taken an active interest in 
the growth and improvement of the city, and his counsel and labors have 
been effective in promoting general progress along substantial lines. For 
a number of years he has been an active and influential member of the Cham- 
ber of Commerce and through a considerable period has served as one of its 
trustees. He is a popular and valued member of the various social and fra- 
ternal clubs of the city, and in politics is a stanch Democrat who believes in 
the gold standard. Mr. Nadeau was happily married in 1885, the lady of 
his choice being Miss Flora Fonda, a native of St. Joseph, Michigan, and a 
daughter of Captain John Fonda, an old resident and highly respected citi- 
zen of Seattle. They have two children : Madeline and George Fonda, 
both of whom are still students in school. Mrs. Nadeau is a valued member 
of the Episcopal church and belongs to various ladies' clubs of the city, 
taking an active interest in the social life of this place. Both Mr. and Mrs. 
Nadeau have a large circle of friends, and the leading citizens of Seattle 
have counted the city fortunate in that it has elicited the co-operation and 
aid of such a progressive and enterprising man as the subject of this review. 

RICHARD J. GRAHAM. 

One of the oldest and best known merchant tailors of Seattle is Richard 
James Graham, who since pioneer days has been connected with the devel- 
opment and substantial progress of this section of the state. He is a native 
of Lancashire, England, born March 5, 1853, a son of William and Margaret 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 761 

(Scott) Graham, natives of Scotland. The father is descended from Mal- 
colm Graham, one of the old Scottish chieftains. William Graham was a sec- 
ond lieutenant in the British army, but later in life sold his commission and 
emigrated to New York city in 1854, where he carried on merchant tailor- 
ing for a number of years. For some time thereafter he was engaged in 
business in Detroit, Michigan, and in 1S74 took up his abode in Albany, Ore- 
gon, where he followed his chosen calling for some time and is now the 
owner of a fine fruit farm. He has reached the seventy-fifth mile-stone on 
the journey of life, but his wife lies buried at Albany, she having passed 
away on Easter Sunday of the year 1897. They had four children, of whom 
Richard J. is the only survivor. 

Richard J. Graham received his literary education in the public schools 
of Detroit, Michigan, and his business training was received under the direc- 
tion of his father at New York city, and together they were engaged in the 
tailoring business in Albany, Oregon, for a number of years. In 1880 the 
son came to Seattle, where he has since been recognized as one of the leading 
merchant tailors of the city, and during the twenty-two years which marks 
the period of his residence in Washington he has won and retained the confi- 
dence and good will of all with whom he has had business or social relations. 
In political matters he is a Republican, and prior to his removal to Seattle he 
served for some years as the efTicient member of the Albany school board, 
while for a time he was also chief of the volunteer fire department of the 
city. He is a prominent member of the Masonic fraternity, having been 
made a Mason in St. John's Lodge No. 62, at Albany, Oregon, was after- 
ward transferred to Eureka Lodge No. 20, of Seattle, and was a charter 
member of Ionic Lodge No. 90, of this city, serving as its first master under 
uniformed division, and also under charter. He was exalted in Bailey Chap- 
ter No. 8, Royal Arch Masons, became a charter member of Seattle Chapter 
No. 3, Royal Arch Masons, and a charter member of Seattle Council No. 6, 
Royal and Select Masters, and is a past tiirice illustrious master. He re- 
ceived the degree of knighthood in Seattle Commandery No. 2, and is a mem- 
ber of the grand lodge of the state and also of the grand council of Royal and 
Select Masters. Throughout all the years of his life he has exemplified the 
beneficent and helpful principles of this fraternity in his every day life. 

In 1874. in Ypsilanti. Michigan, Mr. Graham was united in marriage 
to Miss Frances Helena Nichols, also a native of the Empire state, and she 
accompanied her husband on their removal to the Pacific coast. Three chil- 
dren have been born of this union. Eugene F., a native of Eugene, Oregon; 
Pear], who was born in Albany, that state; and Sa-Dell, a native of Seattle. 

48 



762 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

All are at home, and the family reside in one of the pleasant dwellings in 
Seattle, located on Queen Anne Hill at the corner of Prospect and Warren 
avenues. They enjoy the hospitality of many of the best homes of Seattle, 
and their circle of friends is almost co-extensive with their circle of ac- 
quaintances. 

JAMES R. MASON. 

James R. Mason, a representative of the insurance business in Seattle, 
handling both fire and marine insurance, has for fourteen years resided on 
the Sound, and while conducting a successful enterprise in the line of his 
chosen calling in the field of commerce he has at the same time been a citizen 
of worth, loyally and actively interested in everything pertaining to the 
general progress and upbuilding of this portion of the state. Mr. Mason is 
a native of Ohio, his birth having occurred in the city of Ashland in 1859. 
His father, James Mason, Sr., was born in Washington, Pennsylvania, and 
when a young man removed to Ohio, where he was engaged in the insurance 
business. He was married in that state to Miss Day, and to them were born 
four children, of whom the subject of this review is the only one now living 
on the coast. On the paternal side the Mason family is of Virginia stock 
and on the maternal side our subject is a representative of an old Maryland 
family. Both families were represented in the Revolutionary war. 

In the public schools James R. Mason acquired his preliminary educa- 
tion, which was supplemented by a course in the University of Wooster, 
at Wooster, Ohio, where he pursued classical studies. He then entered into 
business with his father, and this connection was maintained for a number 
of years, so that he early became interested in insurance in its various 
phases. Having heard and thought considerable about the west and its ad- 
vantages, Mr. Mason ultimately decided to locate in this section of the 
country and in 1888 made his way to the west. His first home was at Port 
Townsend, and there he started in business on his own account. The agency 
which he established soon became a profitable one and he carried on busi- 
ness there until January, 1S98, when he decided to come to Seattle, as he 
recognized the fact that this city had before it a great future. Here he 
opened his office for the transaction of marine and fire insurance, and since 
the first few months has occupied a pleasant suite of rooms in the Hallard 
building. He represents the Home Insurance Company of New York, the 
Canton Insurance office, limited, of Hong Kong, and the \Vestern Assur- 
ance Company of Toronto. He has written a very large and profitable busi- 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 763 

ness in both branches, fire and marine He gives close and earnest attention 
to his l:)usiness and to some extent is interested in shipping. 

On the 24th of October, 1901, in Seattle, Air. Alason was united in 
marriage to Mrs. Alice Baldwin. They attend the Presbyterian church 
and he is a member of the Seattle Athletic Club. In politics he is an earnest 
Republican and takes an active interest in county and state conventions. He 
has ne\er sought or desired office, preferring to gi\'e his entire attention to 
his business affairs, in which he has met with very creditable success, being 
recognized as one of the leading representatives of insurance in the north- 
west. 

HARRY WHITE. 

It is especially fitting that in a volume giving the history of the men of 
Seattle and vicinity that some mention should be made of one who was the 
city's chief executive following that trying crisis of 1889, which will always 
remain as one of the most memorable events in the early history of the city. 
And after the devastating fire of that year Mayor White was the leader in 
the work of rebuilding and carrying out improvements on a larger scale so 
as to give opportunity for the unhindered and phenomenal growth which 
ha.« followed since that time. 

Air. White was born on a farm near (rolumbus Junction, Iowa, January 
5, 1859, being the son of Robert A. and Hannah E. White. His early edu- 
cation was confined to the country schools with the exception of one term at 
the Eastern Iowa Normal School. He had become pretty thoroughly 
grounded in business matters when he came to Seattle in 1887, and he at once 
began buying, improving and selling real estate. He also engaged in the 
sale and development of mining property, principally in Alaska ; he is still 
connected with some large mining enterprises in Alaska and is promoting 
some oil lands there. The purchases are made through Air. White's Seattle 
office, but the disposition of the property is usually effected through his Lon- 
don connections. 

On December 31, 1895. Air. White was married at Harvard, Nebraska, 
to ATiss .\nna Alorrow, daughter of Colonel John C. Alorrow. They have 
no children. In 1889 Air. White was elected one of the eight city council- 
men of Seattle, and while in this office took an active part in advocating 
municipal ownershi]) of the water works and other public utilities. At the 
following mavorality election city ownership became the chief issue, and a.^ 
its advocate and on the Republican ticket Air. White made the race and was 



764 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

elected ; at the expiration of the first term he was re-elected for two years. 
His first two years in office covered the period of rehabilitation of the greater 
part of the business district of the city from the effects of the great fire, and 
it was here that his broad views in regard to the future welfare of the city 
proved of lasting benefit. As a result of his leadership the streets were all 
widened and regraded, Railroad avenue was planked and put in a passable 
condition, and the railroads removed from the streets and avenues to Rail- 
road avenue. At that time the administration of the city was conducted 
under the old territorial charter, but by the time of his re-election to the 
mayorality the new charter had been secured and adopted, and under this 
more modern document the city was enabled to buy the water works and in- 
augurate the present system of water works. And among other extensive 
reforms and innovations brought about while he was chief executive were 
the organization of the fire department, the police department, the present 
system of laying out the parks, and the establishment of the public library. 
It is thus clear that Mr. White has not only been successful in his own busi- 
ness, but by his public-spirited endeavor has helped make the great metropo- 
lis of Puget Sound what it is, and may deservedly be given a place among the 
city fathers. 

JAMES NUGENT. 

On the roll of Seattle's early settlers is found the name of Captain 
James Nugent, who has put aside the active cares of business life and is now 
living in qtiiet retirement at his pleasant home in this city. He was born in 
the old Bay state in East Boston on November i6, 1845, ^"^ is of Irish an- 
cestry. His grandfather, James Nugent, was a native of Ireland, while his 
father, also named James, was born and reared in Massachusetts, where he 
was married to Miss Catharine Gallagher, also a native of the old Bay state. 
The father was a contractor and builder, and he died at the early age of thir- 
ty-two years, but his widow survived him many years, her death occurring 
at the age of sixty-four. 

Captain Nugent was the oldest of his parents' four children, and in 
early life the care of his mother and the younger children fell upon his young 
shoulders. The educational privileges which he enjoyed were those afiforded 
by the common schools of the county, and after putting aside his text books 
he learned the carpenter's trade, at which he worked when only eleven years 
of age. He was thus engaged till 1867, when he came to the Puget Sound 
country, where he was at once made mate of the steamer Success, plying be- 





^l/^y>^LS^ 




G^^f- 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 765 

tween Seattle, Port Blakeley and other ports, and he subsequently became 
the owner and captain of this vessel. He later became the owner of the Seat- 
tle, for many years was owner of the Michigan, and during the nineteen 
years in which he engaged in this career he had the fortune never to meet 
with a shipwreck. At the same time he made many investments in Seattle, 
property, which now bring him a handsome income. In 1892 he built for 
himself and family a beautiful residence at 11 18 Cherry avenue, the corner of 
Miner avenue, where his home is surrounded by beautiful grounds, in the care 
of which he takes much pride and pleasure. Since i8g6 he has lived retired at 
this comfortable home, enjoying the comforts which many years of per- 
sistent effort have brought to him. 

In 1877 Captain Nugent was happily married to Miss Emily Fish, a 
native of Belvidere, Pennsylvania, and a descendant of a prominent old 
American family. The union has been blessed with one daughter, Etta, who 
is now the wife of Walter S. Fulton, a leading member of the Seattle bar and 
the present prosecuting attorney. Captain Nugent has been a life-long Dem- 
ocrat, and in his fraternal relations is a member of the Knights of Pythias and. 
the Ancient Order of United Workmen. A large acquaintanceship has en- 
abled Mr. and Mrs. Nugent to gain a large circle of friends, and their social 
qualities have made them popular with all. 

L. CHARLES NEVILLE, M. D. 

Dr. L. Charles Neville has attained to a position of distinction as a 
representative of the medical fraternity and as a leading business man of 
Seattle, where he has made his home since 1890. During this time he has 
witnessed the rapid growth of the city from a population of forty thousand 
to three times that amount. 

The Doctor was born in Canton, Stark county, Ohio, September 22, 
1863, and is a son of Rev. William Neville. The ancestry of the family 
can be traced back to the great-grandfather of the Doctor, who was a lineal 
descendent of the house of Warwick, of England. Crossing the Atlantic 
to the United States, he settled in North Carolina prior to the Revolutionary 
war, seeking a home in the new world because of political reasons. Later 
he removed to Maryland, where his son, Edward Neville, was born. The 
latter afterward became a resident of Pennsylvania, and died in that state at 
the age of eighty-six years. The Rev. William Neville is a native of the 
Keystone state, and has devoted the greater part of his life to the work of 
the ministrv of the L'nited Brethren church, but is now living retired, at 



765 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

the age of eighty-two years, making his liome in Galion, Crawford county, 
Ohio. He married Lydia J. Hartsough, a native of Ohio, and to them were 
born eight children, of whom the Doctor is the fourth in order of birth. 
One brother, Edward, is a graduate of the Fort Wayne Medical College and 
is now living with our subject. 

In the public schools of his native state Dr. L. Charles Neville pursued 
his early education, and later was a student in the Fostoria Academy, at 
Fostoria, Ohio. When he had completed his studies there he engaged in 
teaching for three years in Crawford county, Ohio, during which time he 
took up the study of medicine. He then entered the Toledo Medical College 
at Toledo, Ohio, and was graduated in March, 1889. He practiced for a 
short time in that city and then went to Logansport, Indiana, where he 
practiced for a year. Owing to a fire he lost all that he had, and he decided 
to come west, hoping to retrieve his losses here. 

The month of October, 1890, witnessed the arrival of Dr. Neville on 
the coast. He knew no one west of the Mississippi, but he located in Seattle 
and with resolute purpose determined that he would succeed if success could 
be gained by close application to his work, by honorable dealing and by un- 
faltering perseverance. He has never had a partner since coming to this 
place. He started in alone, and has built up a very satisfactory practice, 
because the people have recognized his capability in meeting the complex 
problems which arise in the treatment of disease. He has not made a spe- 
cialty of any branch of medicine, though he has had special training along 
certain lines, but he prefers that his practice shall be general, and he reads' 
broadly concerning all departments of the medical science. He is now ex- 
amining physician for a number of insurance companies. Whatever tends 
to bring to man the key to that complex mystery which we call life elicits 
his interest and attention, and he has ever done everything in his power to 
promote his efficiency in his chosen calling. To some extent the Doctor has 
become interested in mining, and is the president of the Crown Point Min- 
ing Company in the Chelan district. He was one of the incorporators of 
this company, which is now on a paying basis. He has erected and sold 
three residences in the city, and now owns the old Latimer residence on 
First avenue and Vine street 

In Ohio, in 1884, was celebrated the marriage of Dr. Neville and Miss 
Jennie C. \\'isterman, a daughter of J. D. Wistemian, a merchant and grain 
dealer of Galion, Ohio. They now have one son, Richard Douglas. The 
Doctor is quite prominent in social and fraternal circles. He belongs to the 
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in which he is a past noble grand. He 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 1^1 

is also a member of the Woodmen of the World, of the Knights of the Mac- 
cabees, the Foresters of America, and in the last named has filled all of the 
chairs and was the first grand chief ranger of the state, while for eight years 
he was deputy supreme chief ranger. In politics he is a Republican, but 
the demands of his profession leave him little time for political work. He is 
connected with the King County Medical Association and the State Medical 
Association, and thus keeps in touch with the advanced thought and inves- 
tigation of the medical profession. He has been remarkably successful in 
his chosen field of labor, and his time is devoted almost exclusively to his 
professional duties. 

REGINALD HEBER THOMSON. 

For the past eleven years Reginald Heber Thomson has been the city 
engineer of Seattle, and great credit does he deserve for what he has done in 
behalf of the city in regard to its streets, its sewers and its splendid water 
works, as his efforts have largely contributed to its improvement and its up- 
building, and his name is inseparably interwoven with its history. Mr. 
Thomson is a native of Hanover, Indiana, his birth having occurred there on 
the 20th of March, 1856. He is of Scotch ancestry. His great-great-grand- 
father, William C. Thomson, went over from Glasgow, Scotland, to county 
Donegal, Ireland, about 1726. James Thomson, the great-grandfather, was 
born in county Donegal in 1730, and emigrating in 1771 to America he 
located at Conocoheaugue, in Franklin county, Pennsylvania, and became 
the progenitor of the family in the new world. He removed to Derry town- 
ship, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, in 1778. and on the second day 
of April in that year James Henry Thompson, the grandfather of our subject, 
was born. The great-grandfather and all his family removed from the 
Keystone state to Nicholas county, Kentucky, in 1793, and the grandfather 
was there married, December 12, 1799, to Miss Sarah Henry. He was the 
ruling elder in the Presbyterian church, had a great love for music and pos- 
sessed considerable ability as a singer, leading the church singing for many 
years. He was also an extensive and prosperous farmer and influential citi- 
zen and for fourteen years served as magistrate of Nicholas county, while 
for two years he filled the office of county sheriff. Later he removed to De- 
catur county, Indiana. This was in the year 1828 and he was accompanied 
by many friends, a settlement being made at Greensburg, near where the 
grandfather departed this life on the 7th of August. 1840, at the age of sixty- 
two years. His wife removed to Olympia, Washington, in 1852, in com- 
pany with her daughter Mary Elizabeth, the wife of the Rev. George F. 



768 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

Wliitworth, and died there on the 22nd of June, 1S58. She was a woman of 
great piety and an active Christian worker. By her marriage she had a 
family of eight children ; two daughters and six sons. The eldest daughter, 
Almira, became the wife of the Rev. Samuel G. Lowry, a minister of the 
Presbyterian church, while Mary Elizabeth married the Rev. George F. 
Whitworth, also a minister of the gospel connected with the same denomina- 
tion. Three of the sons of the family became Presbyterian ministers. 

Samuel Harrison Thomson, the father of our subject, was born in 
Nicholas county, Kentucky, on the 26th of August, 1813. He married Mag- 
deline Sophronia Clifton, who was born in Henry county, Kentucky, in 
1820, and was of Huguenot ancestry, representatives of the family removing 
to America at a very early date. Her grandfather had a large estate in 
Washington county, Virginia. Mr. Thomson's father was a scientist and 
educator, and for thirty-two years was professor of mechanical philosophy 
and mathematics in Hanover College, serving in that position from 1844 
until 1876, during which time there was conferred upon him the honorary 
degrees of Master of Arts, Doctor of Philosophy and Doctor of Laws. At 
length Dr. Thompson resigned his position in the college and in 1877 re- 
moved to Healdsburg, California, where for four years he conducted the 
Healdsburg Institute. He was a civil engineer, also an ordained minister 
of the Presbyterian church. It was for the benefit of his health that he 
sought a home on the Pacific coast, but his life was only prolonged for a few 
years and he was called to his final rest when in Pasadena, California, on the 
2nd of September, 1882, at the age of sixty-nine years. His good wife sur- 
vives him and now resides with her son in Seattle. The eldest brother, 
Henry Clifton Thomson, D. D., has charge of the Presbyterian mission for 
the education of the Spanish-speaking ministers of the church at Albuquer- 
que, New Mexico. The next eldest. Rev. Williell Thomson, resides in Los 
Angeles, California. These three brothers are all that remain of a family 
of nine children. 

Reginald Heber Thomson was educated in Hanover College, being 
graduated with the class of 1877 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Ten 
years later the degree of Master of Arts was conferred upon him, and in 
1901 the honorary degree of Doctor of Philosophy. After his graduation 
in 1877 he accompanied his parents on their removal to California, and en- 
gaged in teaching in the mathematical department of the Healdsburg Insti- 
tute. In his college work he had given special attention to civil engineering 
and for a time followed that profession in California. Removing to Seattle 
in 188 1, he at once became assistant citv survevor and aided in laving out 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 769 

many of the improved streets of the city. During the years from 1881 until 
1883, inclusive, he was assistant city surveyor. In 1882 he entered into part- 
nership with F. H. Whitworth, who was city and county surveyor, under the 
firm name of Whitworth & Thomson, and they conducted a general line of 
engineering in railroad, mining and city work. In 1884 Mr. Thomson be- 
came city surveyor and drew the plans for the construction of the first sewer 
constructed in the city on thoroughly modern principles, that on Union street, 
and it has been the pattern of the subsequent work of a similar nature here. 
He also, at that time, drew plans and superintended the construction of the 
Grant street bridge, which is a roadway twenty-six feet wide and two miles 
long, built across an arm of the bay south of the city, connecting the city 
with the manufacturing districts. 

In December, 1886, the firm of Whitworth & Thomson was dissolved 
and our subject left the city employ and became the locating engineer of the 
Seattle, Lake .Shore & Eastern Railway, now a portion of the Northern Pa- 
cific Railway. He made a location for it from the head of Lake Washington 
through Snoqualmie valley and the Snoqualmie pass to Lake Kitchelos. In 
March, 1888, he went to Spokane, where he was the resident engineer of the 
road for a year, locating and constructing its terminals. He also located the 
two crossings of the Spokane river and planned and superintended the con- 
struction of the two bridges. His work of locating the road through the 
rough and mountainous country was very difiicult, but his line was adopted 
and has received the highest commendation. 

On the completion of his work at Spokane in 1889 he left the employ 
of tlie company and retired to Seattle, where he became engaged in minmg 
engineering and also served as consulting engineer until May, 1892, at which 
time he was appointed city engineer of Seattle. As such he has constructed 
the principal part of tlie sewer .system of the city, including two sewer tun- 
nels, one six feet in diameter and more than a mile long, extending from 
Lake L^nion basin to tide water; the other is an egg-shaped tunnel four by 
six feet, extending from Rainier valley to tide water, nearly one mile in 
length. These tunnels were made through the most treacherous glacial drift, 
and the prosecution of the work had been practically abandoned by those in 
charge before Air. rhomson's appointment. He has also perfected the plans 
and superintended the laying of all pavements in the city, and it was he who 
laid the first block of vitrified brick pavement on the Pacific coast. He has 
been the principal advocate of the gravity system of water for the city and has 
pushed that project for the past seven years until the system has been adopted 
and the city is now supplied with an abundance of pure mountain water. 



T/O REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

twenty-two and one-half million gallons per day, at a cost of one million and 
one hundred and seventy thousand dollars, which sum is eighty thousand 
dollars less than the original estimate, while the system is a better one than 
first outlined. The intake is twenty-six miles away in the mountains, where 
the city has acquired the watershed of Cedar river and Cedar lake, through a 
distance of twenty miles. Cedar lake, itself, is more than three miles long and 
a mile wide, its elevation being fifteen hundred and thirty feet above sea level. 
By the construction of a small dam, the lake can be made to hold sufficient 
water to furnish the city six hundred million gallons every day in the year. 
This has been the great life work and aim of Mr. Thomson, and Seattle 
could not possibly have a better water system. It will prove one of the great- 
est blessings to the inhabitants for all time and will be one of the city's great- 
est attractions — an unfailing supply of pure, clear mountain water at the 
cheapest possible rate at wdiich an abundant supply could be obtained. Cer- 
tainly Seattle owes much to Mr. Thomson, whose labors have been of the 
greatest benefit. His work has been of a character that adds much to the 
healthfulness of the city and is, therefore, of direct good to every individual. 
A fall of six hundred feet is made by cascades in Cedar river a short distance 
below Cedar lake, and at the foot of these cascades Mr. Thomson is now con- 
structing for the city of Seattle the first section of a municipal electrical plant. 
The first installation is to deliver in the city about three thousand horse power, 
and the final installation about ten times that amount. 

In 1883 was celebrated the marriage of our subject and ^liss Adeline 
Laughlin, a native of California, who is of Scotch extraction. Her father, 
James Laughlin. was one of California's pioneer farmers. Their union has 
been blessed with four children : James Harrison, Marion Wing, Reginald 
Heber. Jr. and Frances Clifton. The parents are members of the Presby- 
terian church, and Mr. Thomson has served as elder for twenty-five years 
and as a teacher of the Bible class. He votes with the Republican party but is 
a strong temperance man and believes quite firmly in Prohibition principles. 
His labors along all lines have been for the progress and upbuilding of his 
city or for the uplifting of his fellow men, and the record of ]Mr. Thomson is 
one which has ever been above reproach. 

HEXRY YAXDELL. 

During the many years which mark the period of Dr. Yandell's pro- 
fessional career he has met with gratifying success, and during his resi- 
dence in Seattle of about thirteen years has won the good will and patron- 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. n^- 

age of many of the leading citizens and families of the place. He is a great 
student and endeavors to keep abreast of the times in everything relating 
to discoveries in medical .science. 

Dr. Yandell was born in Hinds county, Mississippi, on Big Black river, 
in April. 1835. The family was established in this country by the great- 
great-grandfather of our subject, Lunsford Yandell, who came from Scot- 
land in the early part of 1700. He married a Miss Moore, a native of coun- 
ty Antrim, Ireland. Under King George's rule Lunsford Yandell purchased 
si.K square miles of land in jMecklenburg county, Virginia, for fifty pounds. 
There Wilson Yandell, the grandfather of our subject, was born, and he, 
too, entered the medical profession, this occupation having been followed 
by members of the family for many generations. He married a Miss Pitt, 
of Virginia, and in 1790 they emigrated to Tennessee, locating in Sumner 
county, and after a residence there of a few years located in Rutherford 
county, that state, on Stone river. Four of their sons entered the medical 
profession, and one daughter became the wife of a physician. Henry Yan- 
dell, one of the sons, was born in the family home in Rutherford county, 
Tennessee, and as a life occupation followed in the footsteps of his father. 
He was practicing at Bedford, Tennessee, during the terrible epidemic of 
cholera there in 1832 and 1833. In 1834 he removed to Mississippi, where 
his life's labors were ended in death in 1835, at the early age of thirty- 
two years. He was married to Martha Davis, and after her husband's 
death she returned to Tennessee, where she passed away in death in 1850, 
when her son Henry was fifteen years of age. 

Henry Yandell received his literary education in Dickson Academy at 
Shelbyville, Tennessee, and after his mother's death he made his home with 
an uncle in Mississippi. For three years he was employed as a clerk in a 
drug store, and during that time he also read medicine, later, in 1853, en- 
tering the University of Louisville, in which he was graduated with the 
degree of M. D. after a three years' course. His ability along the line of 
his chosen calling soon became recognized and he was made an interne 
in Louisville Hospital, but on account of the urgent request of his uncle 
to return to Mississippi he did not accept the position, but at once entered 
upon the practice of his profession at Yazoo, Mississippi, remaining there 
for nearly thirty-five years, during which time he built up an excellent medi- 
cal and surgical practice. In 1861, however, he put aside all personal con- 
siderations and entered the Confederate army as a surgeon, in which ca- 
pacity he served for three years, principally engaged in hospital work, al- 
though he applied for field duty and for a short time served on the staff 



712 REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF 

of General Johnston. After the war had closed he remained until the last 
man was taken from the hospital, after which he resumed his medical prac- 
tice in Yazoo. 

About this time the cause of temperance was being greatly agitated 
in Mississippi, and at the close of the war Dr. Yandell took an active part 
in having the option law passed. He organized the movement in his county, 
and defeated the saloon element in the following election. The question 
was very bitterly fought at a later election, but again his party came out 
victorious, with a still greater majority, and Dr. Yandell has the satisfac- 
tion of knowing that owing to his efficient work there has never been a 
saloon in the county since that time, and but three counties in the state 
license the sale of liquor at the present time. 

In 1888, on account of failing health, Dr. Yandell was obliged to seek 
a change of climate, and accordingly arrived in Seattle, Washington, in 
April, 1889, and immediately opened an office and resumed the practice of 
medicine. He has confined his work principally to city practice, but has 
frequently extended his aid to the surrounding towns and country. He 
is now associated in practice with his son-in-law, A. R. Bailey. Soon after 
taking up his residence in this city he erected a commodious and substan- 
tial house on Sixth, near Bell street, where the family extend a gracious 
hospitality to their many friends. 

In October, 1867, was celebrated the marriage of Dr. Yandell and 
Miss Rebecca W., the daughter of William C. Hays, a prominent land 
owner of Yazoo county, Mississippi. Two of her uncles nobly served their 
country in its wars. Colonel Jack Hays having been a member of the noted 
Texas Rangers during the Mexican war, while General Henry T. Hays 
made a fine record as a soldier. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Yandell 
was celebrated in Yazoo county, Mississippi, and has been blessed with 
five children, four sons and one daughter, namely : Claiborne B., who 
is a reporter on the Post-Intelligencer of Seattle; Martha, the wife of Dr. 
A. R. Bailey, of this city; William Henry, the leading clerk for the Schwa- 
bacher Hardware Company ; John S., with the Bradstreet Company ; and 
David I.., at home. Both Mr. and Mrs. Yandell are members of the Presby- 
terian church. Prior to the Civil war the Doctor gave his political sup- 
port to the Whig party and made a strong efifort to defeat the secession 
movement in this state, but since the close of that struggle he has supported 
the principles of the Democracy. In 1896, on the fusion ticket, he was made 
the county coroner, in which capacity he served for two years. He is deeply 
interested in the political questions of the day, believing it the duty of every 



SEATTLE AND KING COUNTY. 773 

American citizen to attend the primaries and see that capable men are given 
the nominations for office. He has been a delegate to every city conven- 
tion since taking up his abode within its borders, and has frequently at- 
tended the state conventions, but has never been a seeker for political pre- 
ferment. While a resident of Mississippi he became a member of the Ma- 
sonic order, and there served as master of his lodge and as high priest of 
the chapter. He is also a Royal Arch Mason, and a member of the Knights 
of Pythias, and the Knights of Honor. In connection with his medical 
practice he is a member of the King County Medical Society. In all the 
varied relations of life he has been honorable, sincere and trustworthy, and 
has won the praise and admiration of all who have been associated with 
him in any manner. 



HO ^ 



